Shadow of the night
by RosetheHedgehog2001
Summary: Hey guys me and Lya200 are doing a story on the Haunting and the Haunted together, the pairings in the story are: Rose(my character)/Armen and Rose/Herobrine later on in the story Lya(Lya200's character)/Grayson and Drake/Emma(my sisters character). I hope you guys enjoy the story and so please R&R
1. Chapter one

**Armen's** **Pov**

Drake and I with my girlfriend Rose on my back were walking across an old bridge that led to some buildings, I noticed Drake stop halfway across the bridge so I stopped next to him.

"Hey wait," Drake said.

"Hum," I hummed back.

"Armen, how did we get here?" Drake asked me.

"I have no idea," I said.

"Where is here?" Drake asked me.

"I'm not very sure" I said to Drake.

"This place seems strangely familiar? You know what it doesn't matter," Drake said.

"Yeah, your right" I responded, we started to walk again, then stopped at the end of the bridge.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, shouldn't it matter though? Shouldn't it, shouldn't it, you know," Drake asked me.

"Just some random village I guess," I said to Drake.

We start walking again, then stop beside a house, "I don't know, it seems familiar, have we been here before, you know what, um have we?" Drake asked.

I noticed a sword/dagger on the rock next to the house that we stopped next to and walked towards it.

"What is this?" I asked Drake.

"I don't know, what is that?" Drake said.

I stop next to the rock and picked it up, "A dagger," I said.

"That's odd," Drake said.

"We could probably return it to someone in the village," I said.

"I suppose so," Drake said.

I put the dagger on my belt and started walking with Drake behind me, "That is if it is a village or something," I said.

"Let's figure out where we are, it must be important," Drake said.

We stopped in front of what looked like a school, "What does this said?" Drake asked me.

"Ruby Shire," I said to Drake.

"Ruby Shire School, that also sound very, very, very, very familiar, have we been here before?" Drake asked me.

I walked through the gate and stop in front of the school, "Yeah I remember, we have been here" I said.

"We had to been here before," Drake said.

Drake walked through the gate and stopped in front of the sand pit, "I remember all this, but how?" Drake asked me.

Drake walks out through the gate and I walk behind him, we walked right to a bunch of houses, I just sigh, "I don't know," I said.

"I don't see anyone around here, Shouldn't there be people here? There should but I don't see anyone. Wait, what's this?" Drake asked, we walked towards the window and I do the same.

I saw a line of netherrack on top of the celling of the window.

"What is that? Ah, my head what's going on?" Drake asked, holding his head then he vanished.

When I went towards it had the same effect as Drake, I held on tight to Rose on my back just in case, then suddenly I black out.

I woke up and noticed that we were somewhere different, I looked like a nether fortress, I also noticed that Rose wasn't on my back no more, but she was in my lap sleeping soundly.

I stood up and put Rose on my back, I looked around for Drake and saw him on the opposite side of the room, Drake was starting to wake up.

"Ah, my head, what a headache," Drake said, with pain in his voice but he was awake at least.

"Oh whoa, not good," Drake said, almost falling in lava.

Drake started to walk around the lava holes, "Armen, is that you?" Drake asked walking towards me.

"Yeah it's me," I said, walking towards him.

"Dude what is going on?" Drake asked me.

"I don't know," I said to Drake.

"Is this ash in the air?" Drake asked.

"I don't know but let's get out of here," I said.

I walked over to where I saw the dagger was laying and I grab the dagger.

"Oh god, is there another exit besides this, because I don't like dark places," Drake said.

"It is the only way out of this place, so let's go," I said, we started to walk towards the dark tunnel with Drake following behind me.

"Whoa, whoa," I said.

"I can not see much," Drake said.

"Drake, are you there?" I asked him, I kept walking forwards until I saw something in the distance.

"Armen, I think I see you, there's something there," Drake said, but I cut him off.

"What's that?" I asked, walking towards it, when I got close to it started to give me a headache.

"I don't know, there is a lot of smoke around it, that is the only thing I can see I might as well head for it, if you can see it too then you should do it... this is not good, ah my head hurts again," he said, then vanished, then I black out again.

I woke up to notice that we were in a different location, I felt Rose's head on my chest, I got up and put Rose on the bed laying down on her back instead of her side and I put the blanket on her to keep her warm. I heard Drake starting to wake up.

"Drake, wake up," I said, Drake got up and started to panic.

"Drake," I said.

"I can't see, I can't see," Drake yelled.

"Drake, where is something on your face," I said to him.

"Oh," Drake said, he pulled off the sleeping blindfold and put them on the bed.

"Yeah, my bad," Drake said, I laughed.

"I don't know there we are again," he said.

"Different place how many times?" I asked.

"I lost count and what is this? That was right back in, what was called Ruby Shire, it was that same thing, what is that?" Drake asked, we turned towards where the dagger was.

"I have no idea, we should rename it," I said, picking it up.

"It is a dagger or a sword or some sort of knife, I don't think I would name my whatever those things are," Drake said.

"Just keep it for later, I rather keep it for later," I said.

"I don't see why not," Drake said, I put the dagger in my belt and we started to walk towards the door.

I looked behind me one more time at Rose and she was sleeping soundly, I just smiled a small smile at her before we left the room.

"I will go first because I got the weapon," I said, pulled out the dagger and went through the door.

"Okay," Drake said, walking behind me.

"What if someone or something is here?" Drake asked.

"Shhh, there might be," I said to Drake.

"Okay, where are we?" Drake asked.

"Do you think I know, I was thinking the same thing," I said.

"Good point, whatever," Drake said.

When I walked to the end of the corridor and stopped because I saw someone there so I backed up against the wall.

"What, what is it?" Drake asked, he walked around me to see what I saw.

"That is someone," I said.

"A person?" Drake asked.

"Probably, maybe a robot," I said.

"I don't know," Drake said.

We saw the person move and ran backwards a bit, so we wouldn't get spotted, when we saw he was out of site we walked forward.

"Come on this way," I said, moving behind a pillar.

"How do know he is friendly?" Drake asked me.

"I am putting my dagger away," I said, putting the dagger in my belt again.

"Okay," Drake whispered back.

We saw the guy move to the other side of the room and we started to walk forwards again, "That can't be person, was that a helmet?" Drake asked.

"Did you see that he dropped the bowl," I said.

"I don't know," Drake said.

"Is that a backpack?" I asked, walking towards the table.

"It looks like a toolbox," Drake said, when I got to the table I picked up the toolbox and then the man came in.

* * *

 **Grayson's POV**

I entered the building. After a tedious night of repairing the oilrig, I was ready to climb under my covers and fall asleep. I was that tired.

One of the bed legs was loose. Of all mornings, why this one? I turned around to retrieve my toolbox just as I hear it.

It has been forever since I have heard a voice besides my own. The yell was muffled by the padded walls, but I understood it enough to determine that it was a young male. Judging by how he was talking, I determined that there was more than one. Intruders.

How did they get in here? No one else but me lives in the immediate area. Besides, I am positive that I locked the door behind me, and as far as I know, that was the only entrance in.

I set the toolbox down on the wooden table. Then, without hesitation, I went into the opposite room for my gun.

One thing I know is that people tend to be more agreeable if they are threatened. In this case, I might be able to figure out how they got in here and then force them to leave. It will be a piece of cake.

The voices got louder, so that means they are moving closer. I took off my helmet and burst out of the room.

Two people were standing terrified in my main living area. The one standing closest to me was a young teenaged boy. He had really dark brown hair that can be considered black unless if there was a bright light. His eyes were cyan coloured. I'd say that he was about sixteen or so.

The other guy was just, well how else can I say it, odd. While the friend appeared to be a normal human being, he wasn't exactly. The man, who'd I would say was about eighteen, had an enderman half on his right side of his body. He had one large purple eye on that side. On the other side, he had a regular human side with a regular, indigo coloured eye. His brown hair was a little messy but short.

I quickly aimed my gun at the two of them. "Who are you?"

Surprised that I was armed, they all three backed up away from me. I saw no visible weapons other than a small dagger slipped into the dark-haired boy's belt. He has clearly made an effort to hide it from me, but I didn't say anything.

The odd enderman guy scratched the back of his neck. "Well, uh, I'm Drake, and this is Armen." He pointed at his companion. "Uh, we just woke up in your infirmary. I think we should thank you for taking care of us?" His uncertain voice trailed off, which made it sound more like a question than a thank you.

I stepped forward, which made the two of them back up into the hall. "I haven't taken care of anyone," I remarked coldly.

The speaker stood up a little straighter in an attempt to make him more intimidating. "Oh, well we just sorta woke up in your infirmary that uh…" his voice cracked. "So you didn't take care of us?"

As I stepped closer to the two he added quickly, "I don't really, um…" The half-enderman lost the willpower to talk.

The dark-haired teenager picked up from where he left off. "Know what happened. At all, any of us."

As I had hoped, they were backing up towards the door. The story about how they got in, however, has taken me aback.

"Pretty suspicious."

"Well, I cannot really remember what happened before I got there." The half-enderman hastily changed the subject. "Where are we exactly?"

With much venom in my voice, I answered, "In the middle of an Arctic."

"Wait, seriously?" Armen commented in disbelief. The two of their confusions were genuine. It couldn't be…

The half-enderman glanced at his friends. "Okay."

The younger of the two men replied to my answer, "An Arctic? What is the name of this…What is the name of this facility?"

They barely understood what was going on, but I can't show any signs of letting my guard down.

I calmly but firmly said, while still holding them at gunpoint, "We're on an oilrig in the middle of the Arctic."

They stepped forward slightly to stand a little closer to me. Drake whispered, "Well, um, that's a bit of a change in pace. Uh, sorry, what's your name?"

I wasn't sure if I could trust any of them. They could just be thieves that were plotting to take over this place for all I knew. Well, the question seemed harmless enough. "Grayson."

Drake politely said, "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Grayson. So if we're out in the Arctic, it's probably freezing."

He paused uncertainly before continuing. "Is there any way that we could stay here for the night? I know that you probably don't trust us, but I honestly don't know how we got here."

If I had wanted to, I could have blasted them in their faces right then and there. Something about that comment, however, started to trigger some old and repressed memories.

I let out a sigh and put my gun away. "Yeah, sure."

I started to walk away towards my room. Drake pointed at the signs with the names of my missing workers. "Are these the people that work with you?"

Armen ran forward towards one of the doors. I looked over my shoulder at Drake. "There's no one else here, just me." Armen mumbled something, but I continued, "I've been here for three years."

He was looking at the door marked "Collin." "But there's a-there's names on the…"

Suddenly they were both interested in the name "Collin." They mouthed the name.

"Well, Collin, that's when it all started."

"Started?" Armen questioned.

"After he went missing…" For the first time today, I didn't know what to say.

"Went missing? Like, disappeared?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, "Then this snowstorm just never stopped for three years."

Drake glanced around the infirmary. I couldn't understand what he was whispering.

It might've been something about the current events, because Armen said loudly, "Straight."

Whatever it was, Drake corrected, "No, no, no, it wasn't anything like that because it is impossible for a snowstorm to go on for three years straight. At least I think it is."

They probably thought that I couldn't hear them, because they continued to whisper back and forth between each other. Armen agreed, "I'm thinking that."

The conversation turned to Collin. "Collin's name sounds familiar."

"Yeah, it does seem familiar."

"But I forget why it does."

Drake's voice got louder after that. Finally I don't have to pretend that I do not hear them. "So, I'm sorry to be a burden, but Grayson, but can we stay in one of these rooms for the night."

I felt like the other two rooms were cursed or something, so I pointed at a door that the labels were etched away long ago. "Sure, you can stay in the empty one."

He must have been worried that I'd kick them out into the snow, so Drake cried out in relief, "Oh, thank you so much."

"There's a bunk bed in there," I spoke over him.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

Armen gave me a small smile. "Thanks Grayson."

I hesitantly returned it. "You're welcome."

As an afterthought, Armen added, "By the way, we have a third friend who is still asleep. She hasn't been awake in a very long time. Anyway, her name is Rose, and she is still in the other room. Just thought that you should know."

"Um, all right. Well, this is good night."

His door shut close. For a moment, I watched them from my doorway before I determined that this wasn't some elaborate prank or anything like that. Then I did the same by closing my door.

This was all very weird for me. Their story was the most insane one I have heard in years, yet it dawned on me that it must be true. There is no getting here without my knowing so, so there was no logical way for the pair of friends to get here.

Something familiar about it startled it. I can't place it, but I felt like I had something like this happen to me before. But what, and when?

What if this was all a big scam? Maybe they somehow broke in without me noticing. I shouldn't trust them this easily. They could be bandits or something. What do I have to gain from trusting them?

What do I have to lose?


	2. Chapter two

**Rose's POV**

 **Flashback start**

 **Drake, Armen and me walked down the stairs into the basement and we heard the door slam from up the stairs of the basement, Armen ran up the stairs to the door.**

 **"Someone blocked the door on us," Armen said, walking back down stairs back to us.**

 **"Maybe He blocked the door," I said, I sat down on dirt that was in a pile and Armen did the same.**

 **Armen sat next to me and put his arms around me and I leaned into his chest.**

 **Drake was walking around the basement for another way out but didn't find one, so he sat on another pile of dirt next to us.**

 **"There is no other way out of here but the door up stairs which is blocked," Drake said, with a sigh.**

 **Then suddenly we heard the door opened, we all ran up the stairs to see the door wasn't blocked anymore but a lava bucket and an apple sitting in front of the door.**

 **Armen picked them up and showed us, I started to get worried that He was starting to get really dangerous towards us and He won't stop until He gets what He wants.**

 **I looked outside to see it is turning day time, "I'm going to bed," I said, giving Drake a hug and Armen a kiss on the lips and went to Armen's and my room.**

 **I jumped on Armen's bed and then my head hit the pillow I fell asleep and waiting for the next night to come.**

 **Flashback end**

I was floating in the darkness worrying about Armen and Drake and what He was doing to them or what He has done to them.

"How are you doing today?" He said.

"Considering that there is a crazy murderer in my head, I am fantastic," I said, sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm hurt little sister," He said, pretending to be hurt.

"Shut up Collin" I said, with anger in my voice.

"I'm offended, but I am the older one after all little sister," He said.

"You lost my respect when you killed our parents Collin," I said, with a little more anger in my voice.

"But remember I'm not your brother, I'm Herobrine," He said.

"Why did you put me to sleep Herobrine?" I asked Him.

"That is my business that has nothing to do with you," He said coldly.

"It has everything to do with me! I have the right to know," I shouted at Him.

"Fine, if it will stop you blabbing. My plan is to use you to get rid of your friends. I could go into more detail, but I won't," He said.

"Why did you choose me?" I asked.

"Because you're the weak one. Therefore, easier to control," He said.

"I'll show you weak," I said, I gained control for a slit second to see Armen sitting next to me crying.

"Armen?" I said, with a weak voice.

"Rose?" Armen said, shocked before He regained control back.

"Well that happened," He said.

"What is Armen doing here?" I asked Him.

"He will help me along with you in plot to destroy your friends," He said.

"And if we refuse?" I asked.

"You'll have no choice in the matter," He said, with a dark voice that scared me.

 **Armen's Pov**

I woke to snoring on the bottom buck which was Drake's snoring, I groaned.

'Why does Drake have to snore so loud,' I thought.

I climbed over the railing of the top buck and landed on the ground, I noticed we were in the same room as last night, I let out a sigh of relief.

I looked at Drake to see he was laying on his side with one arm under the pillow and the other on his side and he had a smile on his face, I just smile at him and the way he was sleeping peacefully in his sleep, I took one more look at Drake and left the room quietly.

I walked to the infirmary to check on Rose and she was still laying in the bed, I walked over to her and sat on the side of the bed and I just looked at her.

"I wish you were wake right now," I said, to myself still looking at her.

I leaned down and kissed her on the lips, I sat up and noticed my vision was going blurry and my cheeks were getting wet, I put my hand to my cheek to wipe away the water, then I noticed I was crying.

"I-I love you s-so much Rose," I said, with my breath being shaking from me crying and putting my hand over hers.

I was shocked to see Rose waking up and she looked at me, "Armen?" she said with a weak voice.

"Rose?" I said, before I saw her go back to sleep.

I stood up and wiped the rest of my tears away, I walked towards the door and I looked towards Rose one more time before leaving the room and back to mine and Drake's room, I climbed to my buck and went to sleep and didn't wake up until woke up to Drake yawning.

"You awake too?" I asked Drake, when he was standing up.

"Oh there hey, we didn't wake up at some random ridiculous scary creepy location of once," Drake said.

"Thank god," I said, relieved and jumped off the bed and walked towards the door.

"It has been to long, unless this place is secretly scary and creepy, that would not be okay," Drake said, with a smile and then frowned.

"Secretly?" I asked, with a frown walking towards the window to look outside.

"Yeah, I don't know," Drake said and I groaned, "Just don't bring up these questions because we don't know what we are dealing with now, so let's investigate" I said walking towards the door again.

"Let's see what is out here?" Drake said, opening the door and walking out of the room.

I walked behind him, Drake walked towards a kitchen, "I want food," I said, running into the kitchen and looking inside the cabinets.

Drake laughed at me running into the kitchen, "Um, it doesn't seem to be any food or anything in these cabinets that all," Drake said.

"What, ah," I said, with disappointment.

"How does Grayson live with out eating any food, I don't really understand that," Drake said.

"I don't know but, other than that it is not their problem, I think it is mainly his" I said.

"Okay then we will eat something later but, for now we will ask Grayson if we see him again, um also did you notice how weird it was how he is working here like I said earlier three years, no help from anyone but himself, on a very large and compacted oil rig," Drake said.

"That's weird once you think about it," I said.

"Yeah it kinda is," Drake said.

"Yup," I said.

"I think we should go out ever though it's cold and see if we can find anything," Drake said, walking out of the kitchen and with me following.

"Yeah, I think it's for the best," I said.

"I just woke up man," I said, whining at Drake and walking towards the door that went outside into the snow.

"Alright, do you hear that too?" Drake asked me.

"No, it's like footsteps," I said, Drake interrupted me.

"It sounds weird, let's try to ignore the creepy sounds for now, um let's go outside, it's going to be very cold," Drake said, he walked outside, I walked after Drake into the cold.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah, it is very cold," Drake said, wrapping his arms around himself and I do the same to keep myself warm, we start to ran through the path that looked like a tunnel and we stop to see two ways to go.

"Which way should we go?" I ask Drake.

"We go right," Drake said, we started running in that direction.

"Always go right in mazes," Drake said, running.

"Let's get out of here, it's freezing," I said, running.

"Holy crap cold, wow it's kinda dark, a blizzard?" Drake said.

"Um, this pipe is connected to the base which means it's a refinery or something, maybe it's that tower over there, I think it is a tower, so I would presume this pipe goes all the way into the oil rig, so do you want to go there?" Drake asked me.

"Of course, we got to investigate ever single thing there, the thing," I said, following the pipe to the oil rig.

"Alright then," Drake said, following me, then I heard rain.

"Go!, oh no hail, crap," I shouted, to Drake running through the hail still following the pipe.

"Run through the hail," Drake said, running after me.

I spotted the oil rig and went under it, "Ah, it's much warm under here," I said, rubbing my arms together to get myself warm and spot Drake running under the rig as well.

"Get over here, it is much warmer," I said.

"Okay, okay, okay," Drake said, running towards me.

"There we go," Drake said, rubbing his arms together to keep his self warm.

"Ah," I said, as I was getting much warmer.

"What that?" Drake said, looking at something.

I looked towards it and it looked like blood near the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh no, is that, no," I said, walking up the stairs with Drake following.

"Alright," Drake said.

"Grayson!" I shouted, as I got to the top of the stairs.

"Something's wrong," Drake said, as we walked past another puddle of blood.

"There's tons of it, what is it," Drake said, as we walked past another and another.

Drake got to the door of the controls for the oil rig and opened it, "I don't know," I said.

"I hope this isn't what I think it is," Drake said, walking inside.

"Hello, is anyone here," Drake said, looking around.

"Grayson!" I shouted, his name again.

"There is nobody here," Drake said, looking around again.

"Nothing," I said, with worry.

"I don't understand," Drake said.

"Maybe their... whatever," I said.

"I don't know, I think it is another thing I'll ask Grayson," Drake said.

"If we find him," I said worried.

"Let's get out of here," Drake said.

"Right," I said, agreeing.

"Okay we should head back and all of this is way to communicate," Drake said, looking at the machines.

"Me too, so let's go," I said, we walk out of the oil rig control system.

"I think we may have to run," I said, running to the stairs.

"Yeah, let's go, let's go," Drake said, running after me.

"Ah, it's so cold," I said, running back the opposition way I got to the oil rig but, mostly following the pipe back.

"Run," Drake said, running as fast as he could back.

"Ow, I hit my eye," I said, hitting my eye with my hand.

"Shortcut," I said, as we ran over a bunch of the snow hills to the front door to the base, I ran in first to the heater.

"We ran over snow, Oh my gosh," Drake said, as he ran inside after me to the heater.

* * *

 **Grayson's POV**

I woke up normally. They didn't kill me after all. I didn't think they would, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't sleep with a gun in my hand.

I stretched my arms into the air. Now that I was awake, I can inspect the base for anything out of place.

Everything looked ordinary. The only thing different was the cabinets were open. Drake and Armen must have been looking for something to eat. All the food was hidden in secret cabinets so that no one else can find it. Collin and the others once thought that I was obsessed with secret hatches, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

I knocked on the door to the room they slept in last night. "Knock knock. Anyone in there?" Their beds were empty.

They couldn't have gone far. That storm outside would send them running back in no time. To pass the time, I decided to make breakfast.

I found a few pies and a cake I baked a few days ago. They should still be good enough to eat. I started making hot chocolate. I love my sweets.

I stood at the counter just sipping the cocoa. It tasted so good. The sweet, sugary drink warmed my throat. Most of the stuff I drink is warm because of the cold, Arctic air. Hot chocolate has always been a favorite.

I wonder where Drake and Armen were. It was definitely a bad idea for them to leave the safety of the Arctic Base. Wild animals are always on the prowl for food. Not to mention, I have always had a creepy feeling about this place. It is as though someone has been watching me the whole time.

The way they came here intrigued me. Only someone who has had the exact same experience would believe that Drake and Armen just woke up here. Luckily for them, that happened to me, too.

I don't remember most of my life before I started working here. I don't even know my last name. One morning, I just woke up with another man named Collin.

I feel like I am missing pieces to the puzzle. He seemed to have been here before because Collin knew exactly where everything was. The people who worked here barely let us stay because they were just as suspicious of us as I was of Drake and Armen.

At first, everything seemed to be working out. We worked well together. Yeah, we had our quarrels, but it was fine in the end. Then, one day, Collin changed. He started acting really weird around us. Soon, everyone started going missing one by one. I was alone here for three years until Drake and Armen came along.

Out of curiosity, I checked the room that they said they woke up in. To my surprise, a girl was sleeping in one of the two beds. Hold on, Armen mentioned that one of their friends was still asleep.

Apparently this was Rose.

I went back into the kitchen. The pies and cake were now reheated and ready to go. As I munched on my share, I heard the door slam and footsteps. If my suspicion was correct, then Drake and Armen were back.

I heard quiet voices, but the wool walls muffled them, so they were hard to understand. Then they came into view.

Unsure of what to say, Drake said, "Oh, hey, um..."

"Oh hey!" I greeted politely, barely acknowledging that I noticed that they were gone.

"How's it going?" the half-enderman asked. They were both soaking wet and shivering like crazy. It was obvious that they had been outside in the cold winter-wonderland.

"Good. Good morning." I smiled warmly at them as if nothing was off.

He was clearly trying to hide something. Weren't we all trying to do that these days? "Good morning, yeah." He scratched his head and turned to look at Armen.

I offered them the cocoa and pumpkin pie. "Would you like some cocoa and some pie?" Armen eyed them ravenously.

Drake was unsure of how to answer. "Pie?"

Armen eagerly walked up to me and answered quickly, "Ye-es!" Once he realized how much he sounded like a little kid, he replied normally, "Yes."

I cut them each a slice of the pie. Drake took his reluctantly after hearing Armen's answer. "Sure, why not?"

Armen accepted his sweet breakfast eagerly. "Oh, and, uh, what was that on the oilrig?"

So that is where they have been? I hope they didn't tamper with anything. It is not like they know how to operate any of those machines or something like that.

Pretending to still know nothing, I questioned, "On what?"

Drake sighed. "Well, we were out on the oilrig, and we saw something." He lost his composure as Armen started loudly chewing on his food. "Well, I want to say that it kinda looked like blood. I mean, we can't be sure. It looked a lot like blood. Do you know anything about that?"

That was news to me. I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary lately. Life here is pretty normal compared to how it usually would be away from all civilization.

Rather quickly, I answered, "I wouldn't know anything about that."

He mumbled, "Oh, you sure? Don't you work there?"

I cut him off in the middle of his sentence to prove my certainty. "Pretty sure." To answer his other question, I added, "I work out there."

"Sooo, when was..."

I continued to interrupt him to get my point across. "That's how I keep this place running."

Probably worried that I would interrupt him again, Drake asked quickly, "When was the last time you were out there?"

I shrugged. "Two weeks."

"Two weeks? Oh. Wow."

Armen finally said something for the conversation, even though it was one word. "Dang."

Drake was looking at me still. "Well, it looks like blood there. Maybe, no maybe just an animal or something got to it. Died, I-I guess. I don't really know." He didn't seem to believe his explanation at all.

To reinforce it, I mentioned, "There are a lot of animals running around through here, so..."

Relieved, he faced Armen then back at me. "Oh. Do you mind if we take a look around here?"

Why didn't they just do that while I was still sleeping? "Hmm, sure. Would you like some cake?" I went to get a slice of the untouched mega-pastry.

"Uh, I'm actually good for right now, but thanks for offering, and thanks again for your hospitality."

Armen agreed, "Thanks."

"No prob."

Armen had something else to say. "Hey, where'd you keep that food? Just in case if we get hungry again?"

"Secret cabinet," I answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. To add extra effect, I added a shrug.

Drake walked closer to me in surprise then backed up again. He might have been trying to see if he could see it. "Ah."

Armen slowed down and muttered, "Doe foo- Okay, thank you." Clearly he was trying to refrain from using profanity.

I finished my cocoa. "No problem."

Drake thanked me again and started going into the computer room. "Uh, what's in here?"

Armen followed him into the room and shut the door. I couldn't hear a word that they were saying through the thick iron and padded walls.

I grabbed my toolbox from the shelf so that I could repair the bed legs. I never did get around to fixing them.

I walked into the room to begin humming. I was in time to hear say mysteriously, "Dude, I remember."

I am positive that I wasn't supposed to overhear that part and grabbed the tools that I really needed for the job. "So, why'd you go outside earlier?" Might as well make small talk.

Whatever happened, it sure left the two of them freaked out. Ghost, maybe? No, there are no such things as ghosts.

Armen nervously said, "Um, we were just exploring. We didn't really do anything for a clear reason. I don't quite know myself."

Drake hastily added, "Yeah, we just wanted to see what was here."

They were definitely hiding something. "Um, you could have just asked me. I would have been happy to have given you guys a tour."

"Well, um, we would have appreciated it." He pretended to yawn. "Well, it's getting late. Do you mind if we sleep here again?"

"Yeah, go ahead." I was looking forward to some real peace and quiet.

They quickly exited the room. I vaguely heard them close the door to the guest room. Now I was alone.

I also left with the stuff I needed to repair the rickety bed legs. I crouched down to be level with the problem.

I had questions for them, but now they were asleep. It was pretty clear that they were keeping something from me. Yeah, I know that it wasn't any of my business, but I was mainly curious about what they were so worried about. These were not normal people, any of them. I haven't officially met Rose yet, but I don't doubt that she is just as interesting of a character as Drake and Armen.

I finished repairing the bed leg and stuffed the tools inside the toolbox. Whatever it is, I want to know what is going on here. It might not be my business before they arrived here, but now I am caught up in their mess too. My troubles are only just beginning.


	3. Chapter Three

**Armen's Pov**

I woke up in the room of the old house we use to live in and the place that we woke Him/Herobrine up, I got off the bed and stood up, I looked around the room, it looked like the way we left it, I walked into Drake's old room and it looked the same as he left it, just like how Rose's and my room was.

I walk into the kitchen and it was the same as well, then I heard Rose's voice out of nowhere, "Armen, you have to watch out for Herobrine, He has big plans for us, so be on your guard when He is around okay," Rose said.

"What is his plan?" I asked.

"He is going to use us to get rid of our friends and we don't have a choose in the matter, He put me to sleep because He said I was the weakest between Drake, You and I, but I showed Him wrong, do you remember when I woke in the infirmary for a slit sec?" Rose asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Well, I gained control for a slit second, so how is Drake?" Rose asked.

"He's good, we met a man who is letting us stay with him for a while, he looks familiar to me," I said, as I walked up the stairs above the bedrooms and looked down to where the kitchen was.

I walked downstairs and went through the front door, my eyes flashed white and the scene changed to a cave with a bed with a chest on the right side of it and a crafting table on left side of it and a furnace to the opposite wall to the bed and above the bed was some signs, but they were blank.

I heard Rose's voice again, "Hey Armen, I love you and I will always," Rose said, I smile.

"I love you too," I said, Rose's voice was gone after that.

I walked out of the cave and looked around to see I was in a jungle, when I walked a little bit and my eyes flashed white again.

The scene changed to a place that was in ruins, I followed the path and it lead me to a pillar with a weird gem in the middle, I walked down the stairs to the pillar and He fell from the sky in front of the pillar, "You shouldn't be here," He said.

Then I woke up, I screamed and in the process I woke up Drake, "Drake, Is there that your, well ever since yesterday when we found that disk, things have been weird, sorry that I woke up," I said, jumping off my bunk and walking towards the door.

"It's okay," Drake said, walking towards the door as well.

We walked out of the room and towards the kitchen, I heard a cough from the kitchen, so I knew that Grayson was awake.

"Hey Grayson," Drake said.

"Good morning," Grayson said, turning and walking towards us.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"It's going good and tired," Grayson said with a tired voice.

"Yeah, I know how you feel" I said, still tired myself.

"Armen do you think that maybe the same thing that is happening to us to happening to him?" Drake asked/whispered to me.

"We could ask, since we are guests, I mean why don't we," I whispered back.

"I don't see why not," Drake whispered.

"Grayson, by any chance have you heard the name, I'm not sure if I should say it, dose the name Herobrine ring any bells?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Hero…brine?" Grayson said, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah," Drake said.

"I heard it in child stories but…" Grayson was cut off by Drake.

"What do you mean?" Drake asked now confused.

"Yeah, there is a legend on him," Grayson said.

"There is legend on Herobrine?" I asked.

"Yeah," Grayson said.

"By any chance do you know the legend of Herobrine?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Well, the story goes, He chooses a few and stalks them, follows them, eventually He will take them," Grayson said.

"Did anyone know where He would take them?" Drake asked.

"Takes them?" I asked.

"Not at all, it's just a legend, it's not true, it's just to keep little kids at night from misbehaving," Grayson said.

I chuckled to myself of what he said, "Wow, that's ah, well um, let's just say for example that there is possibly that wasn't just a legend," Drake said.

"What do you mean?" Grayson asked confused.

"Well, what would you say if I told you that I knew somebody who was actually haunted by Herobrine," Drake said.

"That is not possible though," Grayson said.

"Can you tell me why this is not possible?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Because it is just a story," Grayson answered.

"Well, most stories are based on something true," I said.

"True," Grayson said, with a sigh.

"Okay, have you not see anything creepy or odd that just made you confused?" Drake asked.

"I guess when the crew started to go missing and then Collin," Grayson said.

"Collin, what do you mean?" I asked.

'It sounds familiar to me' I thought.

"Well," Grayson stop talking and he started to walk out of the kitchen when Grayson stopped to grab his helmet.

"Remember how I told you about the person who stay in this room?" Grayson asked, as he walked towards the room that had the name Collin on top of the door.

"Yeah, Collin, me, Armen and Rose know somebody named Collin," Drake said, walking towards door and I did the same.

"After he went missing, this blizzard took affect and it just never ended," Grayson said.

"You told us the other day, it's that a little bit odd?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Yeah," Grayson said.

"Okay," Drake said.

Grayson yawned and went to his room and we started to whisper to each other.

"Armen, it's obvious that something about Him has happened here and we wouldn't randomly appear here if we weren't somehow connected to it, so it defiantly evolves Him," Drake whispered.

"Has to, always has been," I whispered back.

"It's the only reason that this stuff happens," Drake whispered.

"Drake, in my dream last night I saw Him, He said we shouldn't be here and Rose told me that He has plans for us," I whispered.

"So," I cut Drake off.

"It was vibit dream," I whispered.

"Are you sure you had it?" Drake asked/whispered to me.

"I think so, I saw Him and it was really creepy," I whispered.

"I think we should take His message, because we are not going anywhere if we are staying at this," Drake whispered.

"That's true," I whispered, we stopped whispering after that.

"Grayson?" Drake asked.

"Yeah," Grayson answered.

"Okay, look I am going to tell you this and you might find it crazy, but me, Armen and Rose have the past, I don't know how long, we have lost track of time, we been haunted by Herobrine," Drake said to Grayson.

"Okay," Grayson said.

"And the only reason we randomly appear in your infirmary is because we were being attacked by Him, I don't know we found some object or artifact or something and we just appear here, I feel like we shattered illusion or something and we make it here, but He has been haunting us, He is a man with white eyes," Drake said.

"One second," Grayson said.

"Hey Grayson?" I asked, Grayson hummed in response.

"Grayson, I got a question?" I asked.

"Yeah," Grayson said.

"Do you remember going to a Jungle by any chance?" I asked.

"Have been to a Jungle in your life?" Drake asked.

"Many times," Grayson said.

"Do you ever remember anything odd, while you there at that Jungle?" Drake asked.

"Not at all, just collecting wood," Grayson said,

"Temples and such?" I asked.

"Some temples, some ruins out there," Grayson answered.

"Armen, what are you getting at?" Drake asked/whispered to me.

"I remember him, he looks familiar, I don't know, I remember him and a jungle and I just see you, that is the only thing that I can remember?" I whispered.

"Back in the jungle, I thought it was you and me though," Drake whispered.

"No, there was this guy, this journalist," I whispered.

"The old man?" Drake whispered.

"Just like the old man," I whispered.

"Could Grayson be the old man from the jungle?" Drake asked/whispered to me.

"If he is an old man, but he looks very, very familiar, I guess that is what I am thinking," I whispered.

"He's not partially old but um, yeah," Drake whispered.

"This could be," I whispered.

"I don't know, you say he looks familiar and sounds familiar," Drake whispered.

"Defiantly should tell him," I whispered.

"Grayson?" Drake asked, Grayson hummed in response.

"Are you sure you been to a, you been to a jungle, you never seen anything weird creepy or crazy in those jungles, because look okay, we know we probably sound crazy to you but, back then we were there in a jungle, Armen said he met a man out there and he says you look almost like him or sound like him or what was it?" Drake asked me.

"Looked" I said.

"Does Armen look familiar to you at all to you?" Drake asked Grayson.

Grayson gives a sigh and walks towards me and he hums, "He does look familiar," Grayson said.

"Yeah," I said with a smile.

"Grayson, where… we don't know, there is a lot of stuff that doesn't add up about you, We feel like and I am going on a limit here. I feel like this also that you are also haunted and afflicted with the curse like we are," Drake said.

"Okay" Grayson said, with some fear in his voice.

"I know it's probably pretty weird but, hey look I think I might have seen Him a few times around here and I didn't really notice, at the corner of my eye, I keep seeing things," Drake said.

"I see," Grayson said.

"Hey look, I know it sounds crazy and everything, seriously I just… there is not much to say, I'm sorry I guess…" Drake said.

"I believe you," Grayson said to us.

"You do," I said surprised.

"Yeah, I have no memories of this place, not until I went around with Collin," Grayson said.

"You mean you ended up here with Collin," Drake said.

"Same way you did," Grayson said.

"But wait, wasn't Collin Herobrine?" I asked.

"Yeah, I thought he was, that is actually what happened," Drake said.

Grayson went into his room, "Well, that pieces a couple for things together, Grayson?" Drake asked.

"Yeah," Grayson said, from his room.

"I suddenly don't feel safe being here anymore, a lot of things don't make sense," Drake said.

"I have to go to the rig so," Grayson said.

"Can we come with you, I don't partially feel safe anymore after I just," Drake said.

"I'm putting on my mask, it protects me from the snow," Grayson said,

"Alright then um I guess we going without anything, wait should we take the dragger with us?" Drake asked me.

"Yeah, you get it and I will get Rose," I said, walking towards where Rose was sleeping.

"Alright," I heard Drake said before heading to the room we stayed in.

I got to the infirmary and wrapped Rose in the blanket that she had on her.

'Hopeful this keep her warm' I thought to myself, as I was making towards the entrance for the where Drake was, before I went outside I put Rose on my back, I nodded to Drake to let him know I was ready and he nodded back.

* * *

 **Grayson's POV**

I waited patiently at the door for them. Through the mask, I saw snowflakes dancing in the arctic wind. My own breath being reflected back towards me heated my body.

I saw Drake through the window of the door. "Okay, Grayson, we're coming with you."

I moved out of the way to let them pass through. I turned to face the world ahead and saw a figure on top of the huge mound of snow.

"Who is that?" I asked, pointing towards him. Through the thick snow, I couldn't make him out very clearly.

"Where?"

I gestured in his direction. "Right there."

Drake squinted at the man with his good eye. "Where? I don't see anybody."

I secretly hoped that I wasn't going crazy. "Look right there."

A look of fear flashed in his eyes. "Is that...? I think we need to get out of here! Right now!"

I quickly followed him. Armen was the slowest since he was carrying his sleeping girlfriend on his back. I gave a little push forward to help him out and prayed that he wouldn't slip on the ice.

Drake called from up ahead, "Is there any place around here where we can just get away, very far away?!"

Thinking quickly, I made a mental map of the surrounding Arctic to try and find a place to hide. We can't go to the oil rig because they mentioned blood earlier.

I then spotted a little opening, probably to a small cave. "In there! Right there, right there!"

Drake looked at it, shocked. Evidently, he didn't notice it beforehand. "In here?"

He dove inside. I quickly spotted the figure moving towards us and fired my musket at him. He disappeared into thin air!

Cursing, Armen followed his friend. I guess I didn't consider how loud it would be. I've not had to use the musket in a very long time.

Drake's face had lost its color. "Be careful where you point that thing," he warned while keeping both eyes trained on my weapon.

In response, I prepared the gun for the next time I need to fire it. "Where are we?"

Worried, Drake responded, "I don't know! You said that this place would be safe."

I walked forward to examine a hole in the floor. I couldn't see the bottom very clearly. It just looked like a dark hole to me.

When I saw Drake and Armen coming over to join me, I warned, "Guys, stay. There's a hole here."

My instinct told me that it would be safe to jump down, but I was hesitant to try it. Bravely, I plugged my nose and jumped down, screaming all the way.

I landed in some sort of liquid. It was sticky, but at least I was alive. I pulled myself onto a platform close by.

I heard Drake call out from above, "Grayson? Are you all right?"

I yelled back up, "Yeah! You can come down!"

"What's down there!"

I can't say that there was an unidentifiable substance to fall into. "Water!"

I heard Armen complain, "I don't want to go. That is such a small hole, and I'm not sure if I can get Rose to safety."

"This place seems to be abandoned. I'm not sure what's here." I wanted to appeal to Armen's adventurous side because it won't exactly be a good idea to get separated at this point.

Next thing I knew, there were loud yells and a huge splash. Drake grumblingly pulled himself out of the "water." He joined me at the edge.

There were more whimpers from above. Drake reassured, "It's fine!"

"I'm going to regret this!" Finally Armen came falling down with Rose. Together, Drake and I helped pull them ashore.

Once I was sure that they were safe, I started to explore. The first thing I saw was a piece of machinery.

I located the robotic hand I found out in the snow a while back. "This looks like it's compatible."

I switched on the lights. Now that it wasn't as dark, Drake asked me, "What is that?"

"On my arm?"

"Yeah. I just noticed it."

I shrugged. "I found it in the snow a couple of weeks back, and it looks like it goes with this." I suddenly felt inclined to try it out. I started messing around with the mysterious technology.

They circled around the mechanical table with the bright green hologram. Their breath made puffy white clouds in the cold air around us. "Woah, this is technology like I've never seen before." Drake gaped in awe.

I noticed that Armen had propped up Rose against the wall to rest his back. "How do you know this?"

I continued messing with the controls. I can tell that the two pieces of technology went together, but I couldn't figure out HOW they went together. Frustrated, I started pressing random buttons. A few of them lit up.

Drake nervously looked down at the machine. "I guess you're pretty smart. Don't want to underestimate you."

I snorted. Armen ran over to the side, and I heard him say, "Hey guys! What is this?"

Drake agreed with him. It looks like a...What is it?"

"Do I..."

I continued fumbling around with the technology, determined to figure out what it was. "I don't think you should touch that."

"Yeah, that does not seem like a good idea."

Armen sounded disappointed. "I'm just gonna..."

"You know what this kind of looks like?"

"What?"

Drake's voice revealed his curiosity. "It kind of looks like-whoo hoo hoo." A quick glance in their direction revealed that Drake fell into a hole. "You've got to be careful?"

"What?" Armen urged.

"Never mind. It's probably not it. I guess that it kind of looked like a missile or something."

"Yep." I heard Armen walk back over to where I was still struggling with the mystery equipment. Drake was right. I've certainly never seen this before.

"Grayson, what are you doing with that?"

"Well, I'm...This looks like it works with this." I went back to messing with the buttons.

I listened to Drake say, "What, mess around with it? What is this stuff? We landed in it. It's kind of sticky. Yeah, it's like red. It's not water. What is this?"

I took a break from the controls to look around. So many things weren't adding up. There was a mystery liquid that we fell into that sort of made me think of blood. There was the robotic hand I recovered from the snow a few weeks ago that I was positive went to the futuristic computer. Finally, there was the missile.

"I have no idea." I turned back to the buttons. If only I can just figure out how to work this...

"That you mean?" I heard Armen say.

"Yeah. Well, I don't know." Drake sounded unsure.

Then I saw a small switch in the back. "Hmm, let's see..."

I was about to pull it when I heard Drake start to say, "All right. Look, I know that I saw Him out there. Grayson, you said you saw a person. That was definitely Him."

"I don't want to believe it..." At the same time, I knew that it was true. It would explain everything weird that has happened.

"All right, look, I just want to get off this base. I want to return back to everything normal. I just don't want to deal with this anymore." Drake sounded distressed.

"Same," I muttered under my breath.

"What is this?" Drake carefully reached out to touch the missile.

I finally gave up. "I don't know how to use this...hand thing." In frustration, I pulled the switch.

A loud alarm burst out my eardrums. "That looks like-" My voice was drowned out by Drake yelling something.

"That also sounds like an alarm!"

Armen picked up the peacefully unconscious Rose and started to follow me as I started to take a route to escape. "We can't go back the way we came! We have to go this way!" I fought to keep the volume of my voice above the alarm, but it was extremely difficult.

Drake protested, "We don't even know what's over this way! Ugh!" Nevertheless, they followed me.

I went back to help Armen after pointing up the tunnel. "Up here."

"It's dark, though." I rolled my eyes and pointed in the same direction. After climbing up, Drake said, "No, wait, there's a light. What is this place?"

I slipped my way forward so that I could lead them to safety. Armen tried to go forward, but I stopped him. "There's a bridge."

Armen parkoured to the next platform, and I let Drake go before me. Together, the three of us plus Rose ran up the tracks. Drake pointed out a large bridge nearby. "There's a bridge over there! We need to get to it! We need to get out of here right now!"

As Armen crossed, gravel fell, separating Drake and I from him and Rose. "Go through!" Drake coughed.

I broke the gravel and pulled him through behind me. More gravel fell in its place. "It's blocked up behind us! We can't go back."

Honestly, I don't think that we'd want to. Armen was panting from up ahead because of the extra weight. Even worse, we had to go up the ramp, not down, which took extra energy from us.

"It looks like an old mineshaft," I observed.

Annoyed, Drake argued, "I don't care. We just need to get out of here!"

"It doesn't matter, let's just go!" Armen contradicted.

"We will never know. I don't want to get blown up." Drake and I caught up to Armen who was stressfully pushing the button of a dispenser. It released a mine cart.

He put Rose in first then squeezed in after her. "It looks like a mine cart. Push me! Go!" Drake obeyed his wish and gave him a shove up the rails. Then he pressed the button. A second one came out.

He climbed in and pushed it forward. "Go, Grayson!" He also disappeared around the corner.

I copied them and set up my mine cart just in time to hear the explosions start. I wasted no time in pushing myself forward to escape.

The mine cart ride made me so dizzy. There were so many sharp turns everywhere. It was very dark and very fast. Come to think of it, it made me think of a roller coaster.

My cart banged against the wall, and I hopped out. Drake was already looking around. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." I stared forward and saw a structure made of snow. "What is this?"

I climbed up the ladder. I heard someone behind me, which meant that Drake was following me. Wait, Armen.

I climbed back down to see him at the foot of the ladder with Rose. "I can take her," I offered.

He reluctantly let me hold her. "All right. Just please be careful."

I nodded and waited for him to climb up. Then, once he had joined Drake, I followed."

It was a slow process, but I made it up. I handed Rose back to Armen. "Here you are. Safe and sound."

"Thanks." He repositioned her blanket around her. I looked out the same window Drake was looking through.

"Hey look, the base."

Drake looked forward at the building and nodded. The ground started to shake, and there was a blinding flash of light.

"Get down! And protect your head!" I yelled. They both obeyed, and Armen shielded Rose."

The building shook one last time, and then it collapsed completely.


	4. Chapter four

**Armen's Pov**

When I woke up to find my head was giving me a headache, I looked around to find Drake and Grayson on the other side of me, I saw Drake, his elbow where his funny bone was I think, there was a grey/purple bruise and I looked towards Grayson to see his arm was twisted, so in other words dislocated.

I stood up and looked next to me to find Rose still in the blanket and not hurt, I kneeled down a picked her up in my arms, I looked towards Drake and Grayson to find them waking up, "Yep, that hurts, that hurts a lot, Armen?" Drake said, standing up holding his funny bone.

"Hm," I said, as I started to walk towards Grayson to see if he was alright.

"Are you alright?" I asked Grayson.

"Yeah," Grayson said, holding his arm as it was dislocated.

"My helmet," Grayson said, walking towards it and picking it up with his good arm and put it on his head.

"Wow, um we should of seen that coming," Drake said, looking at the tower we were on before the explosion.

"What is this, this isn't snow it's ash," Grayson said looking at some black/dark grey in the snow, I walked towards a wall because my body was aching.

"I can't feel anything," I said.

"It kinda sounds like a personal problem," Drake said.

"Guys, our way is blocked," Grayson said, looking towards the broken tower that was blocking our path back.

"Um, oh no it froze over," Drake said, running over to the blocked entrance.

"It looks like snow…" Grayson said, but he got interrupted by Drake.

"No, we can't get back," Drake said, walking away from the blocked entrance.

"There looks like a cave or something over there," Grayson said, as he was walking towards what he said was a cave.

"Alright," Drake said, following Grayson.

"Let me reload my rifle," Grayson said, taking out his gun.

"I don't really want to go in there," I said.

"Alright, Armen I know you don't like these kinds of places, it looks to be our only option, so let's go," he said, I start to follow them.

"What is this? Wow, guys look at this," Grayson asked, as he went right into a small cave on the right.

"It's a red stone," Drake said, as he followed Grayson inside to see a line of stone on the ice and it looked like nether rack.

"What was that? It is some kind of gem in here," Drake asked, as he was looking at a gem inside nether rack.

"There seems to be an entrance in here guys," Grayson said, walking back from where he came from.

"I don't feel like cave exploring but, that is an interesting gem," Drake said, as he was looking at the gem again, Grayson and me walked out of the small cave with me in front and Grayson behind me.

"This stuff is getting in my lungs," Grayson said, coughing a little.

"Maybe that is the way out?" I asked.

"Oh my god, I don't know Armen but, every time I go in that room I feel some kind of pressure on my head," Drake said, as I walked back inside the cave for a minute and I felt the pressure on my head as well, so I walked out of the cave quickly.

"I feel as something is staring at me," I said, looking at the netherrack line on the ice.

"Alright, come on let's head out I suppose," Drake said, following Grayson up the stairs.

"I feel like I am being watched," I said, following Drake.

"This is ancient," Grayson said, looking at the stairs.

"Yeah your right, I just now noticed, these stairs are obviously natural," Drake said, looking at the stairs as well.

"Uh oh, um guys," Grayson said, looking at a destroyed bridge that still had pillar that use to hold the bridge up, Grayson jumped first and made it to the other side.

"Okay then, I don't think I had any problems with parkour in the past that I remember," Drake said, as he jumped and made it but nearly fell off.

"Wow," Grayson said, looking at something that I couldn't see.

"Um," I said, looking at the pillar.

"Armen, your fine with parkour," Drake said, trying to encourage me to jump across.

"Remember that time," I said, trying to make him remember what happened last time I did parkour.

"Yeah, I remember that time, this is not that time, I promise," Drake said, before I jumped I made sure to hold on to Rose so she wouldn't fall off my back and into the hole, I jumped and made it.

"Guys look at this," Grayson said, Drake followed him, when I jumped to the end but I fell back and into the hole.

"No Armen," Drake said, as he watched me fall, he walked to the edge and looked at me with a worried expression on his face.

"Come on, there should be a way out," Drake said, walking away from the edge and saw Grayson there.

"Help," I said, trying to find a way out.

"How can we get him back up?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Here let me dig up some snow," Grayson said, as he went to dig up some snow for me to get up, I found a bit of a path up but I stopped at a near the pillar.

"I had no problems huh," I said to Drake.

"Yeah, well I can obviously say I had no problems, can't say the same for you," Drake said.

"There Armen," Grayson said, as he put some snow down for me to jump on.

"Oh lordly," I said jumping.

"Go there," Drake said, as Grayson put another snow block down and I jumped to it, then jumped to where Drake was and make it.

I sighed in relief as I was on the other side of the bridge, "Good thinking Grayson," Drake said, with a smile.

"Guys look at this, this is amazing, there is buildings here," Grayson said, showing us what he was looking that earlier.

"I'm going to stretch, that kinda hurt falling down in that hole," I said, as I put Rose down for a second and stretched my body.

When I was done I picked Rose up and put her on my back again before following Drake, "Guys this is amazing," Grayson said, with a happy voice.

"This was by your oil rig the whole entire time, How did you not know?" Drake asked Grayson.

When I got the stairs I saw Herobrine face for a slit second.

"What is this place?" Drake asked.

"I have no idea but it is amazing," Grayson said, answering Drake's question.

"I have not seen anything like it," Drake said.

"Alright then, be careful," Drake said to us.

"There are buildings here guys," Grayson said, walking to one of the buildings.

"I have seen enough ancient ruins," Drake said, as all of a sudden an arrow went past us to the wall next to us.

" _Armen Herobrine's here_ " I heard Rose say in my head and my eyes widened.

"What was that?" Grayson asked.

"That was not me," both Drake and me said at the same time, then Grayson fired his gun into the air.

"Careful," Drake said, walking away from Grayson.

"Jesus," I said, doing the same as Drake.

"We don't want to announce ourselves, we sorta being hunted," Drake said, trying to make Grayson put his gun away.

"Don't do it," I said, to Grayson who didn't put his gun away but, it was still pointed towards the sky and then Grayson started shooting the sky again.

"Jesus Christ," I said.

"Careful where you arm," Drake said to Grayson.

"I don't feel safe right now, I'm not going to lie," Drake said.

"Guys there is a chest over here," Grayson shouted from where he was, then we heard something but I don't know what it was.

"What was that," we all said at the same time.

"You heard that right?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Yeah," Grayson said.

"I got a bad feeling," I said.

"There are some spears and potions here guys," Grayson said, looking through the chest in a small room that he found.

"Armen do you want this spear?" Grayson asked.

"Sorry, my hands are full but give it to Drake though," I said, Grayson gave Drake the spear.

"I don't know guys but this place is creepy," Drake said.

"I got some…" Grayson said, as he was cut off by Drake.

"I just got a bad feel about this place, I want to get out of this place fast as we can," Drake said.

"What is that? I got my gun," Grayson said.

"What was that?" Drake asked.

"Alright, I get the feeling that we aren't alone," Drake said.

That the corner of my eye I saw Herobrine, "There, you saw that didn't you Armen?" Grayson asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"There," Grayson shouts and tries to shoot the floating bow.

"Where?" Drake asked Grayson.

"Watch where you are frying," I said to Grayson.

"We are being shot at," Grayson said annoyed.

"Run," I said, running down some random path.

"Alright, go, go," Grayson said, as I went first, then Drake, then Grayson who was watching the back.

"Armen how are you fairing?" Drake asked.

"Fine," I said, than all of a sudden I got a headache.

"Armen, what is the matter?" Drake asked.

"My head," I said, with pain in my voice.

"Here take some of these potions," Grayson said, as he dropped one of them on the floor and splash us.

"That actually feels better," Drake said, then another potion from out of nowhere falls near Drake.

The potion green and when it splashed on Drake he yelled in plan, "Drake," Both Grayson and I yell, with worry in our voices, when Grayson got to him he dropped a healing potion on Drake and Drake sighed in relief.

"Thanks Grayson," Drake said, walking towards a pillar that looked the same from the dream.

"Look at this," I said.

"There He is," Grayson said, taking a shot at Him.

"You know what, I am getting that weird feeling again," Drake said to us.

"That was way to close," Grayson said, as he moved from being hit by an arrow.

"Grayson, are you feeling this?" Drake asked.

"There He is," Grayson said, shooting at Him again.

"Jesus stop," I said.

"Seriously, you are getting really close, I'm ah… this is ah… very uncomfortable," Drake said.

"I'm getting shot here, you know," Grayson said, with a stern voice.

"I'm getting away from this thing or whatever it is," Drake said.

I went to a little room with window and I saw the oil rig but it blow up from the explosion, then I went to find Drake and Grayson, I found in the room next to the one I was in, "There is a ladder here guys," Grayson said.

"Okay, let's go down," Drake said, going down the ladder first.

Then all of a sudden I got hit with the same potion as Drake and yelled out in pain, Grayson through a healing potion down and I sighed in relief, I asked Grayson if he could take Rose down the ladder for me and he said it was fine, I gave Rose to Grayson and went down the ladder, then Grayson went down the ladder slowly because of his arm and because he had Rose with him as well.

"Hey Grayson I think the blizzard has finally cleared up," Drake said, looking outside, when Grayson was finally down the ladder, I grabbed Rose from him and put her on my back.

"Judging from what we are doing I guess, Maybe not," Drake said, as he got hit by an arrow.

"Where is it?" Grayson said, trying to find him.

"I thought for a second the blizzard finally cleared up, man I guess I was imaging it," Drake said, when I heard Grayson fire his gun I jumped a little.

"Jesus, stop I almost fell off the ledge," I said.

"Grayson this is non-natural, the storm is not natural," Drake said.

"This is bad," I said, when Grayson got shot and poisoned.

* * *

 **Grayson's POV**

The poison coursed its way across my body. I reluctantly used one of my health potions to stop it. We were running really low on potions. Why did I leave the potion making equipment behind?

Drake asked, "What is this?" I walked over to look at what I had overlooked before. It was a chest, but it was no ordinary chest. Never before have I seen a chest made of crystals. Even though it was closed, I could see clearly the contents: a single book just floating inside.

I felt a strange vibe and walked back into the doorway. "Stay back." I heard an arrow shoot, and it lodged itself into the wall.

"Grayson, there's a book in here." Like I didn't already see it. "It might tell us where we are."

I fired my musket into the air where the arrow came from before coming back to look at it. Then an arrow landed in my knee.

I groaned aloud. Drake looked up from where he had been studying the book through the chest. "Um, Grayson, you might wanna get inside where it's a little bit safer. You know..." He must have seen something that I didn't because Drake then yelled, "Grayson, get in here! Look out!"

I reentered the building. Drake continued, a little pale, "I just saw something. I just saw something."

Another arrow whizzed in and landed accurately in my thigh. I didn't even see the bow through the snow.

Armen looked at me worriedly. "Grayson?"

Drake walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Grayson, just stay in here. Stay against the wall." I made no move to disobey.

Satisfied, Drake started talking to Armen. "This is what we're going to do. That book is not floating in a chest made of crystals for no reason, so we should probably grab it."

I winced and nodded in agreement. Right now I was in the process of removing the arrows. Normally I wouldn't care, but for all I know, these were laced with poison, and I don't want that running through my system.

I took a moment to look out the window to look at the smoking ruins of my home for three years. It was gone. Some fires still burned, enveloping anything that remained with its deadly blaze.

Armen delicately removed the book after a few moments of groping around trying to grab it. He then asked, "Hear that?"

"Behind you!" I pointed at the icy window. Three, maybe four arrows were stuck in the glass.

Drake, panicked, yelped, "Woah! Where are those arrows coming from? There was nothing there but open space!"

I exited first, aiming up into the sky. Drake argued, "We need to get out of here, right now! We've got to find a way out of here."

Armen stood still for a moment to open the book. "Age of 161." I stayed next to him, ready for him to continue, but he just closed the book and stuck it in his pocket. Then Armen picked Rose back up and headed out the door. "All right, let's go! Go!"

An arrow landed in my shoulder. I responded by firing at the floating object that was the source for the trouble. Unsettled, I barely noticed the sensation of poison in my bloodstream. When I recovered from the shock, I followed them. I can't waste a healing potion on myself. At least not right now. We only had three left.

Panting, I was the last one to climb up the ladder. Why was He doing this? If anything, I think His moves have been getting much more aggressive and more calculated. The precision of the arrows in the glass was far too perfect.

In addition, I think that He was also becoming careless. We couldn't even clearly see the ghostly weapon until we found the book. He was clearly trying to keep something from us.

"The book, what do I do with it?" Armen asked, catching his breath.

Drake looked outside into the blizzard. It's amazing that none of them has frozen to death yet. "That's a very good question. Does it have any information or anything in it?"

Armen glanced down at the text again. "It has, 'Age of 161.' Just a blank..."

I cut him off. "Behind you!" I fired into the otherwise open air. The bow shot at Drake. Luckily, it missed him by inches

He screamed, "Woah, watch out!" Drake jumped across to stand safely away from the entrance/exit.

Armen shot me a glare. "Jesus!" He adjusted the blanket on Rose, and I thought I heard him mutter soothingly to her.

Drake's eyes were wide. "There was a floating bow and arrow!"

I pulled out a stick of dynamite. "I have just the thing for you," I said grimly. Using a match, I lit the fuse and threw it down the ladder. That might not stop Him, but it could slow Him down.

At the sound of an explosion, a projectile landed in my back. Why was I the only one getting hit? I wasn't complaining, but why was He only going after me?

Drake went to check out the damage. "Okay, I guess we're not going back down there. I'm going to see what's over here. Maybe there's a way out." He moved in the direction where I was currently aiming my rifle.

I was running low on bullets. Reluctantly, I reloaded. I heard an angry yell. "Oh, damn it! There's nothing!"

Drake came back frustrated. I thought for a moment. Where can we go?

The solution was obvious. "Guys, there's a big building over here!"

As they ran in there, I saw the bow! Desperate, I fired four shots in a row at it. They flew harmlessly by it.

"Grayson, get in here! There's something you might want to see!"

I frowned and entered. In front of me was some kind of frame. It made me think of a portal or something, but it was different from the shape of any portal I've ever seen. It was a cross shape, and it was blue and dark gray in color.

Puzzled, Armen stepped away to survey it. "Have you seen this before?"

I groaned as a spray of poison hit my chest. I didn't want to do it, but I had no other option other than die. I used a potion. Two left.

Dazed, Drake looked away to face the thing while I fired the musket at the entrance angrily. "This looks like some kind of ceremonial sort of monument or something. I don't know what to make of it."

There was a moment of silence before he asked me, "Grayson, have you ever seen anything like this?"

I squinted at the artifact. After a pause, I replied, "No."

My head ached. I spasmed for a moment, unable to sense anything but the pain. When I finally looked up, I saw evidence that the others felt it too.

Drake winced. "Wait, how did I get over here?" I looked at him. He was half-enderman, but he didn't understand some of the things that he could do? I'll have to ask him about it, but later.

Drake blinked and apologized. "Guys, sorry, that was weird. I just...never mind."

I spotted what we had overlooked before. It was a wide slot. "Hey guys, what's this?"

Drake glanced at it. "Um, not sure? It looks like a slot. It might fit something like a disk, but I'm not sure."

"Isn't that the same thing that we saw in that cave," I said, remembering earlier with the gems.

Armen stepped in front of me with the book. Rose was laid down against the wall. I saw him try to shove the book through the slot, but it didn't work.

I exited to check something out. "Woah, oh my god." Nothing was out there. Weird, I could have sworn...

"Agh!" A bolt was fired into my leg. "Screw you!" I fired three times.

By now my ears were ringing, so I could barely hear Armen. Vaguely, I made out, "Grayson, I couldn't exactly fit this book in."

"Give it to me. Let me try." He slid the open book across the slick floor at me. I picked it up and jammed it through the vacancy.

"Hurry. What would fitting a book do..." Drake was stopped by a rippling effect as the portal lit up. It was a dusty blue color, and it gave at least me a sense of wonder. What really was out there?

"That does not look-" An arrow hitting the wall interrupted whatever Armen had been trying to say. "Okay! Uh, uh..."

Drake yelled, "This kind of looks like a portal to the Nether. It really does!"

I thought for a moment. "Should we go through? It looks like our only way out!"

Armen nodded. "Yeah." I was about to go through when he stopped me. "Hey! Do you think you can take Rose with you?"

"Um sure, but why?"

He grinned shyly. "She is starting to get a little heavy. Just could you?"

Drake looked at his friend. "You know I could do it, right?"

Armen stalled. "Um, I guess so, but..." He passed me Rose. "I dunno, I just feel like I can trust him more with defending her." Ouch. "You got her?"

"Light as a feather!" I put her over my shoulder and walked through. "See ya!" Then my vision faded into blackness.


	5. Chapter five

**Grayson's POV**

I toppled face first out of the portal into the stone bricks. "Oof!" I stood up and dusted off my coat. I was instantly aware of the temperature. It was warm with a cool breeze.

I pulled off my coat so that I didn't overheat. It was night time. Billions of stars dotted the night sky.

I glanced behind me at the portal. Why wasn't Armen and Drake coming through? I was pretty sure that I heard them come right behind me.

A terrible thought came to mind. What if Herobrine took them? He was in the area hunting us. Perhaps He took them just as they entered the portal.

I winced. If that was true, then that meant I was alone. Rose hadn't woken up once since they came to the Arctic Base. If I had any sense, I'd just leave her here to focus on my own survival. Except Armen would have wanted me to take care of her.

I struggled to climb up the ancient stairs. Rose's weight was holding me back, and if I wasn't too careful, I could fall back down and break my neck.

I came to the top, and then I saw the path. It was a narrow gravel path. That meant... "Civilization." Maybe these people, whoever they are, could help Rose.

I lifted he over my shoulder. I don't think that people would have created paths in the middle of nowhere. At most, I'd probably have to walk maybe twenty miles before I see the first sign of human life.

The portal made a loud, thunder-like noise. Startled out of my mind, I lay down the sleeping girl against a tree so that I can check it out. As a precaution, I pulled out my gun and held it at ready.

"Drake? Armen?" I stopped to stare in disbelief at the portal. It was gone. Like it never existed.

Any hope of Drake and Armen following me disappeared. Now I was in an entirely different dimension alone with an unconscious girl that I don't even really know. Armen and Drake were nowhere to be seen. Well, at least Herobrine wouldn't be here, either.

The building the portal was in looked really old. It was so worn down, but there were no vines that I could see. The bricks were cracked or missing. Huge chunks of the wall were missing. I shook my head. It probably didn't mean anything.

I glanced around at the plants. There were so many, and I recognized almost none of them. A frosty blue-green bush shook lazily in the breeze. I cautiously touched it. You'd expect the plant to be at the same temperature as the air around it, but no, it was icy. There was something about it, however, that made it comforting. Maybe my time at the Arctic Base affected my sense of hot and cold.

I swear, the plant looked like it was glowing. It might have been because of its color, but something was just off about it. Nothing seemed right about this place, actually.

The stars provided little light for me to see by. Squinting in the darkness, I took Rose and placed her on my back. I really hope that she'd wake up soon. I don't know what kinds of predators are here, but I will have a much harder time keeping the two of us alive if she was still asleep.

I looked curiously at the trees as I passed. They appeared to be normal. I recognized the birch and oak trees. It's interesting that this part of the forest remained. That meant that the inhabitants of this place used little of the wood for houses and things, or else the trees would be long gone.

I shivered when I realized that I saw no actual evidence of human life. For all I know, these intelligent beings were dwarves, elves, or some other none-human creature.

I saw that the path branched off into two different directions. It would be simpler to continue forward, but my gut is telling me to go right, so I will go right. I'll have to remember this though.

As I turned in that direction, my nose started to pick up an odd smell. It smelled burnt. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, but I didn't stray from the path.

Then I saw the first sign that there were indeed human beings living on this planet. Note that I said "were." Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. Ash filled the craters in the ground.

I almost slipped in a pile of blood. It was so revolting, especially since it was still wet. Disgusted, I backed away.

A contradictory fact came to mind. The bodies were decomposing, so this blood can't be fresh. It should have washed away by now. There was plenty of plants, and they need water to grow. In order to get water, the world needed rain. As a result, the rain should have washed away the blood.

Unless if I was wrong, and the plants here don't need water to survive. That would just be weird. Then again, I don't know the difference between weird and normal anymore. In all honesty, I don't even know if there's a difference between the two these days.

Sickened, I turned away from all of the corpses and their pools of blood. The blood and bones were evidence that people used to live here, but there was also a monster that wiped them out. But who, or what, could do such a thing?

I looked back up into the starry sky. I wish that it will turn day soon. It is much too dark for me to see properly. Really, all I want right now is shelter. Was that really too much to ask for?

I nearly stumbled into the river. Luckily, I felt the water swirling around my legs and proceeded more cautiously, being careful to keep Rose's head above the water. I must say that the task was actually severely difficult.

A pig oinked in the distance. I smiled. That meant that there was food here. We won't starve. Or, looking back at Rose who was still asleep, I at least won't starve. I'd have to feed her through a tube, and I don't know where I can get that. She'll go hungry within days if she doesn't wake up soon.

I clambered up the riverbank to the sight of a building. The ceiling had long since caved in, if there even was a ceiling. It was put together with random wooden planks and stone. I opened the door to see an empty space.

A fire pit was in the center, but I could tell that it had been a while since it was last lit. In the back of the "building" was a stone brick structure that had a roof and three walls. The front had old wooden ladders dangling from it.

I laid Rose down in there to give my back a rest. We can stay here for the night, or possibly for longer than that. For at least until Rose gets better.

I decided to scout out the area in search of food. In order to conserve ammunition, I chose a hunting knife in favor of my rifle. Still, I took the gun with me just in case. I don't know what kinds of monsters live here.

I was about to leave when I heard something. No, I must have imagined it. It just wasn't possible. I straightened my arms and was about to head out when I heard the voice again, only this time, it was louder. "Armen?"

Turning around, I quickly confirmed my suspicion. She was awake.

* * *

 **Rose's Pov**

I felt Herobrine's power hold on me loosen, I used the chance to use my power over Him and out of my mind into the real world, my eyes open and vision was a little blurry, I looked over to see someone, "Armen!" I yelled and hugged him.

When my vision was finally clear, I looked up to see it wasn't Armen but a man with blond hair and green eyes, he had a confused look on his face, "Um, my name's not Armen. I'm Grayson," the man named Grayson said.

I let go of Grayson and stare at him with wide eyes, "Where's Armen then?" I asked Grayson.

"I have no clue. He was supposed to have followed me through this portal with Drake. I've seen no sign of him," Grayson said.

"So Grayson, how did we get here?" I said, narrowing my at Grayson.

"Well, it started with Armen and Drake waking up in my infirmary. You were asleep at the time," Grayson said.

"Okay, have Armen and Drake told you about Him," I asked.

Grayson seemed surprised by the question, "Yeah, actually He is the only reason why we vacated the place. After several close encounters with Him, we came across the portal. Armen was having me hold you at the time. I went in first and that's how we got here," Grayson said.

"That's Armen for you, he always puts me before himself," I said, with a small smile and sighed.

"Yeah... The strange thing is that they should have come through straight after me, you know?" Grayson said.

"Yeah, your right," I said, with some worry in my voice.

"So, you're Rose, huh?" Grayson asked.

"Yeah, that is me," I said doing the peace sign with a smile.

"Okay? Now do you have any memory of before you went unconscious? Anything at all?" Grayson asked me.

"I remember bits and pieces but, not a whole lot," I said.

"Like what?" Grayson asked.

"The last memory I remember was when Armen and me were over a pool of lava with ropes keeping us above the lava and Drake was talking with Him," I said.

"They didn't mention this? What was Drake saying?" Grayson asked me.

"Drake had two options death or eternal punishment and he choose eternal punishment, then I blacked out," I said.

Grayson mumbled to himself but I couldn't hear what he said, "And that's all you remember?" Grayson asked, I nod my head yes.

"Alright. Do you feel okay?" Grayson asked.

"Yeah," I said, then I got a bad headache, I saw Grayson get a water bottle and gave it to me.

"Do these happen to you often?" Grayson asked, mumbles under his breath again but I couldn't catch what he said, I drink the water and my headache starts to calm down a little bit.

"No," I said, answering Grayson's question.

"Weird. So tell me more about yourself," Grayson said.

"Well, my full name is Rose Alex," I said.

"Okay? Anything else? Like why Herobrine is following you guys around everywhere?" Grayson asked.

"We kinda woke Him up," I said.

"What are you talking about?" Grayson asked.

"Long story short, we found a house where His resting place was," I said.

"Go on," Grayson said, getting more into my story.

"We brought the house and we survived for a couple of nights, then we went to the basement and saw wood blocking a underground staircase that went down to bedrock, then we went down where the diamonds were, then Herobrine shot Armen and Drake into the void and I was the only one left," I said.

"Then what?" Grayson asked, getting more curious.

"He took me to His palace in the nether and He did things to me which I don't remember then, after a month Armen and Drake went to find the three diamonds to destroy Herobrine but, He sent them to the nether where they fought Him and tried to rescue me but, in the end he caught them and you know the rest," I said.

"I guess so," Grayson said, then went silent for a few moments.

"Do you know why He's after me?" Grayson asked me.

"No," I said, Grayson nods.

"I guess I'll have to live with it, " Grayson said, then I heard a door open.

We saw a girl with orange hair and brown eyes walk into the room we were in, when she got into the room she saw us, "Who the hell are you guys?" The girl asked us rudely.

"I'm Rose," I said.

"Grayson," Grayson said.

"What are you doing here?" The girl asked rudely again.

"What, no introduction?" Grayson asked, the girl just glares at him.

* * *

 **Lya's POV**

After a moment of silence, the girl named Rose attempted at conversation again. "We would like to know your name."

The blond boy nodded. I sighed. "Lya."

"That's a nice name." She smiled warmly at me. I didn't react one bit.

"So, how'd you guys get here?" What I didn't mention was that people generally don't make it this far south because of... well, reasons.

Grayson shrugged. "If we told you, you wouldn't believe us."

He seemed so sure of himself. My mouth twitched. "You'd be surprised at what I'd believe."

The two looked at each other uncertainly. Finally, Rose stated, "We came through a portal."

Well, one thing was for sure: I was a little caught off guard by her response. Keeping up my "know it all" attitude, I gave one nod. "Got it."

She smiled in relief. "Is it okay if we stay here for the night?"

I sputtered, "I barely know you!"

Grayson muttered something to Rose, and she whispered a response in the same tones. Then she raised her voice. "Should we tell her about "Him?""

I put my hands on my hips. "Him? Who's "him?"

I had an awful feeling I knew what they were talking about. The hushed tones kind of gave it away. Their secretive nature...

The blond looked towards the sandy-haired girl. "I guess after you, then? All I know are stupid child stories."

She laughed. "Have you heard the name "Herobrine?""

I felt my heart stop. "I guess? The name rings a bell..." My voice trailed off as I began to enter Flashback City.

No, I can't let myself get affected right now. That is just a part of the past. I don't need to reminisce on it. Every time I get distracted, someone ends up hurt.

"Do you have a past with Him?" To my horror, I realized that they caught on to my momentary sign of weakness.

"Now that you mention it..." I shook my head, fighting to stay quiet. "No, of course not."

I really hoped that they would leave it at that. I didn't want to discuss my past, least of all to a pair of strangers that I found in my home.

Rose urged, "Come on, you can tell us."

I shook my head a little too quickly. "No, no, I'm fine."

Grayson put a hand on Rose's shoulder after she opened her mouth to speak again. "I think it's better if we leave her be. For now at least."

I mouthed a thank you at him. Rose nodded. "Okay." Then her face contorted into one in pain. "Again?"

"Don't worry, I have a-" I stopped short when I realized what was missing. "Where's my water bottle?"

Grayson was fiddling with a big coat. Weird thing to be carrying around. "Well, she had another one earlier, so..."

I frowned and looked away towards the river. "You both are seriously lucky that there's a river right there."

Grayson snatched the water bottle from my hand quickly. "You okay?"

Rose took a sip gratefully. "I think so. I guess 'He' doesn't want me to talk about Him."

Grayson nodded. "Probably."

She pouted, "It sucks being connected to 'Him.'"

Her friend looked down. "Well, I don't envy you. That's for sure."

I stayed quiet awkwardly. They've seemed to have forgotten that I was here. I wonder if they are together.

Finally, I couldn't stay quiet anymore. "So, are the two of you a thing, or what's the deal?"

Grayson raised his eyebrows humorously while Rose blushed. "What, no! I- I have a boyfriend."

Grayson, too, blushed. "And I barely know her, believe it or not." For some reason, I released a breath that I didn't realize I was holding in.

Rose looked around into the dark sky. "So, is it always dark out, or does it turn to day?"

Grayson shrugged. "I have no clue. The sun's not been out since I got here."

I made a note of their lack of information about this world. The sun's not come up for years. The plants have found ways to adapt to the lack of sunlight. Some plants generate solar energy, but I decided to keep the information to myself.

Rose asked, "So, should we sleep or something?"

"What, sleeping for several days straight not enough for you," Grayson teased.

Rose pretended to be hurt. "Well, you guys can sleep while I take the first shift."

Grayson's eyes flashed concern for a brief second. "Okay."

I stayed quiet. I wasn't going to bed just yet. I barely knew these people, and I planned on keeping a close eye on them before I place my life into my hands.

Still, I needed to pretend. I went underneath the pavilion where I had a sleeping bag set up and laid down to act like I was asleep


	6. Chapter six

**Rose's Pov**

I was sitting outside in front the fire pit that I lit up to keep me warm while I was taking my shift, I stood up and walked to where Lya and Grayson were sleeping, "They look so cute together while they are sleeping" I said to myself quietly and I softened my eyes looking at them.

I walked to the fire pit and put my hands over the fire to warm my hands, "I wonder where Armen and Drake are now?" I said, thinking of them while looking at the starring sky.

"I wonder if He went through the portal?" I asked myself, then suddenly I got a headache, I put one hand on my head to see if I could calm my head.

"This is getting ridiculous," I said quietly.

I put my hand down from my head and decided to take a walk for a little while, I walked to the right door and opened it, I walked through the door and shut it quietly behind me so I wouldn't wake Lya and Grayson.

I followed the gravel track and away from the hut, I stopped walking and looked around me to see nothing, "Huh, that's strange. I thought I felt eyes staring at me," I said, I was going to start walking back to the hut but was stopped by hearing His voice.

"Hello there, Rose? Miss me?" He asked.

"What do you want?" I said, with a bit of anger in my voice.

"What, no hellos? I'm offended," He said, trying to act offended.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, with a little more anger in my voice and narrowing my eyes at Him.

"I'm here for you," He said, with some greed in His voice.

"What do you want with me this time?" I asked, He just laughs.

"I want you sweetheart!" He said.

"Well, I won't let you," I said.

"Oh, but did you think that I was going to give you a choice?" He said, with a sickening and greedy smile on His face, I start to walk backwards and bump into a tree, I look at Him with fear in my eyes.

"You know, there isn't any need to be afraid. It's only me" He said.

"Everyone is afraid of you, idiot," I said to Him.

"That's because they choose to be afraid, but they're afraid for the wrong reasons," He said.

"What are those wrong reasons?" I asked him.

"They know that I am capable of ending their miserable lives. What people fall to realize that I am equally capable of causing them pain and suffering first," He said.

"How come you aren't taking me by force then?" I asked.

"Because some things can't be done forcefully. I may be able to force you into fearing me, but I can't make your love me," He said.

"WHAT?!" I shouted, in shock with my eyes wide, He freezes after He realized what He said me.

"I shouldn't have said that. This is too soon," He said to himself.

"This whole time... You loved me?" I said still shocked, He snapped at m.

"Forget I've said anything," He said.

"I'm going to tell Armen about this," I said.

"Sure... like you'd every see your boyfriend again," He said with the sickening smile again.

"Your lying!" I shouted at Him, He crosses His arms smugly.

"Prove it," He said, with the same smile as before, I put my head down in defeat.

"Fine you win," I said, walking towards Him.

* * *

 **Lya's POV**

At first, I didn't plan on sleeping. Why should I? Two random strangers I barely knew walk straight into my house and expect me to let them stay there. Of course, after the girl gets her headache, I couldn't just kick them out. My conclusion: stay awake until I'm sure neither of them would try anything.

For now, at least, I can tell that neither of them would be a threat. I'm not talking about their physical capabilities. It's just that the two of them were convinced that they were being haunted by this white-eyed demon. The two of them were crazy.

'But you've seen Him before.' I shook my head at my silly thought. What I saw was pretend, nothing more. It was just a normal human being. I was little, then. It was my imagination playing tricks on me.

I very slowly lifted my head slightly to look at Rose, who was warming her hands over the fire. Suddenly, she gave out a groan and grabbed at her hand.

"This is getting ridiculous," she said quietly. Rose stood up and left. I was now alone with Grayson. He, at least, looked like he was asleep. I think I can rest easy for right now.

I lied my head back down onto the pillow so that I was positioned facing him, just in case. If he woke up and tried to attack me, at least I'd see him coming. I could tell that, if he had been sane, Grayson would have been a tough fighter. There's something about him that tells me so.

His eyes fluttered open. I tried to close my eyes so that he didn't think that I was spying on him, but our eyes met. "Were you watching me?"

I sighed, seeing no use in lying. "Yes. What, am I supposed to trust you? I barely know you."

The blond shrugged. "So you didn't sleep at all?" I nodded. "If this keeps up, you'll start suffering from the lack of sleep. You'll have to go to bed at some point."

Indifferent, I responded, "I'm not placing my life in the hands of two strangers."

He looked into the fire, then around the hut. "Where's Rose?"

"I don't know."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You don't know? If you were awake this whole time, then surely you would have seen something. Unless if you're hiding something from me. Where is she?" I shook my head.

Grayson stood up angrily. "Well, I'm going after her with or without your help. See ya."

He stomped over to the door. Sighing, I got up. "I don't know where she went, but it might have been just a walk. She'll come back."

"How do you know that?" he snapped. "Something's very wrong here."

I grabbed his arm, but he yanked it away. The two of them may not even be that close, but I could tell that he was worried for her sake regardless of the fact that she had a boyfriend. Was I getting jealous?

"Well, then let me come with you to find her. She couldn't have gotten far on her own. She didn't have any weapons on her."

Grayson nodded coldly. "Okay, then, fine." The two of us stepped outside into the blackness beyond.

"Does it ever become daytime around here?"

"No. I don't think so. It might have when I was little, but that was long ago."

We heard a shout, but we couldn't make out the words. "Was that...?"

"ROSE!" Grayson abruptly started sprinting in the direction of the scream. I fought to keep up with him.

Quickly, we got to a clearing that was unnaturally lit up. I saw Rose walking hypnotically towards a shadowy man.

I got a good look of His face. It will haunt me for the rest of my life. He was sneering coldly at Rose, evidently taking delight in her misery. His eyes glowed white, just like they said they did.

"Grayson, is that...?"

He was already lunging forward for Herobrine, terror flashing through his eyes. "ROSE!"

Rose looked at Grayson, then me in surprise. "What are you guys doing here?"

I pulled out my sword and growled, "Saving your life."

Rose looked pained. "It's best if I surrender myself so you guys don't get hurt."

My legs seemed to be frozen. I couldn't move them. As for him, Grayson was in the middle of a fistfight with the demon. "Don't say that! I'm going to keep you safe." He paused. "For Armen."

Herobrine snarled, "Shut up!" He didn't want us to talk Rose out of whatever she was doing, but how does her surrendering herself to Him affect Him.

Rose turned to face Grayson with tears streaming down her face. "You don't understand!" she cried.

Grayson retaliated frustrated, "What don't I understand? I'm not going to let you kill yourself!"

She shook her head slowly. "He wants me, not you."

Grayson ducked under one of His blows. Why He didn't pull out a sword yet was beyond me. "He wants us all dead!"

Rose paled, then she stated sadly, "He wants me as His lover."

"WHAT?!" Herobrine took advantage of Grayson's distraction and knocked him to the ground.

Rose continued, upset, "If I want to be His lover, I have to go with Him."

Grayson was holding his stomach from where He hit him. "But is this what you want?" he wheezed. "Is this what ARMEN would want?"

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best." Tearfully, Rose walked over to Herobrine with her arms slightly raised. "Tell Armen I said I love him when you see him."

I regained control of my legs. "NO!" I tackled Rose to the ground to keep her from Him.

She looked at me, bewildered. "What... Lya?"

I looked at her for a long moment. "I'm not letting you give up your freedom for this...this Thing."

Herobrine glared at me. "Now I'm offended by that."

"Good. You should be." I probably just signed my own death warrant because He lunged towards my throat. Why did I have to drop my sword?

Rose stood between the two of us. "Hero, stop! Don't hurt her!"

I was sickened by the greedy look on His face. "Aw, so you still want to play? Oh, goody." I think I'm going to puke.

He then stopped moving towards us. His face took on a pondering look. "You know, I could let you go. I think our little game will be a little more fun that way." He's calling this a game? That was just horrible. I definitely was going to vomit.

Rose looked surprised by the change of her luck. "What do you mean by that?"

Herobrine smiled maliciously. "I'm in a good mood today. I'm going to let you go...for now. This will make this game far more interesting." He vanished into thin air.

Rose looked around, frightened. Then her expression hardened. "Whatever." She started to walk away.

"What?" Grayson spluttered. He was just as shocked as I was.

Rose called out, "You two had better hurry up!"

I nervously said to Grayson, "Did that really just happen?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. Yes it did."

Rose was already so many steps ahead of us. "Hey! Wait up!" I yelled.

Then she started running. What's with these people and running? "Why are you in such a rush?" She didn't respond.

Grayson had already caught up with me. Panting, he asked, "What's your problem? Why aren't you talking?" She ignored him too.

I was starting to get worried. "Hey, what's the deal? Why aren't you talking?"

She finally said, however bitterly, "I'm not in the mood to talk."

I started to feel relieved. At least she COULD speak if she wanted to. Grayson was also reassured. I could hear it in his voice. "Okay. That's all we needed to hear. For a second there, I thought that He took away your ability to speak."

She said indifferently, "He could if He wanted to."

I attempted a smile. Come to think of it, I think it was the first time I smiled in a long time. "Well, let's be glad He didn't."

Rose then said without looking at us, "If you guys want to take my shift, you can." She then shoved past us to enter the room behind the ladders. I didn't even complain that that was where my bed was.

Confused, Grayson said, "Um, okay?"

I said, still shaken, "Are you taking watch?"

He looked at me before responding, "I can, but I thought that you don't trust us."

I said nothing. Honestly, I don't know how I feel. It's true that I don't know either Grayson or Rose personally, but it's also true that Rose saved my life, and Grayson is her friend. I can't admit it, but I think that I am starting to trust them a little.

I then heard some cries coming from Rose's room. Grayson and I exchanged a look, unsure if we should go in there to comfort her. How do we respond to that?

More of Rose's cries sounded from the room. "It's always my fault..."

Grayson twitched. Finally, he raised up his hands in defeat. "Screw it! I'm going in to talk to her."


	7. Chapter seven

**Grayson's POV**

I took a deep breath before stepping inside. A part of me felt protective of her even though I barely knew her. I guess it was because I wanted to obey Armen's last wish, but maybe it was also because I cared for her in a friendly way.

I rapped gently on the wall. "Rose?"

She looked up. Her blue eyes were red and puffy.

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know," she whimpered softly.

I sat down next to her. She flinched. "Why did Herobrine let you go? He had you within His reach, and He let you go."

"I don't know."

I shook my head and gave her a long look. Then I admonished, "I can't believe how willing you were to give yourself up."

Rose sighed. "I will do anything to protect my friends and family."

"But how do you know if He would have let us live even if you went with Him."

She stayed quiet. Her lack of response was unsettling to say the least.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is that you need to be careful. Don't try to make deals where there are none."

"He said that Armen wasn't coming back."

I looked at her in surprise. "He will. Both of them will."

"How do you know?"

I hesitated. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure myself. I had no proof that either of the boys were going to end up here. Rose still needed consolation, though. "He will."

She looked outside to where Lya was sleeping peacefully. Rose smiled. "So when are you and Lya getting together?"

I felt my face heat up. "Sorry, what?"

"Come on," she laughed. "You like her."

Of course I like her. She is a good friend; I can see that. But I know what Rose is trying to say. "Do not!" I say childishly. The way I was acting was making me look like a foolish schoolboy.

"You do."

"No, I don't."

"Then why is your face red?" Rose smirked as she waited for my answer.

"Doesn't matter." I scratched the back of my neck nervously. "Barely know her."

"Well, ask her." A thought came to her. "By the way, Armen and I are brother and sister."

I raised my eyebrows, but I knew better than to question it.

"We also had a brother named Collin."

"Collin?" There was that name again. Up until before I met Armen and Drake, the name was just that of an old colleague who went missing. Then I discover who he really was: Herobrine. Now Collin is also Rose and Armen's brother. I wonder if Drake knows.

"You know Collin?" She looked surprised.

"I just..." I stopped. I can't tell her, or at least not yet. "I just recognize the name; that's all."

"Did he have brown hair and indigo eyes?"

I struggled to remember, but my mind for some reason went blank on the topics of any of the people I used to work with. "Maybe? I can't remember for some reason."

Rose's face darkened. "Herobrine took control of Collin and killed our parents, then tried to kill Armen."

An image popped into my head. Collin came in one day as white as a sheet and barely responsive. Come to think of it, that was probably the last time I saw him alive.

"Oh my god."

She continued uncomfortably, "Remember the stuff He did to me?"

I assumed that she was talking about her coma. "Yeah?"

"He actually raped me."

I just wanted to cover my ears and not say anything else. "Oh god!" I checked in Lya's direction to make sure I didn't wake her.

Rose stared off into the distance. "I haven't told Armen this."

I took a deep breath. "Then why are you telling me?"

"Because I trust you, plus I saw you and Lya in a dream."

"Um, okay? What were we doing in said dream?"

Her eyes went glassy. "You guys were just standing there with Drake, two other girls, and two other guys."

Standing there? What kind of dream was that? And who were the other people if Rose, the one who dreamed them up, didn't know who they were?

"That's just weird."

Calmly, she asked, "Is there anything else you want to know about me or Armen?"

Considering their "lovely" childhood, I was afraid of what I would hear if I asked Rose any more questions. Slowly, I responded, "I don't think I even want to know." The protective part of me came back and replaced my fearful part. "Are you sure that you're okay."

Rose grinned. "I am now."

I relaxed. "Good."

"I want to explore this world. Do you want to come?"

I have been itching to look around for a while now, so I was glad that she brought it up. "Yeah. Should we take Lya with us?" To make it look like I wasn't too desperate, I added casually, "She knows this place better than we do."

"Yeah, plus it would make it more fun."

"What do you mean?" I felt my heart rate accelerate.

Rose smiled warmly. "If we have Lya around, it would be more fun, and we won't get lost."

I felt my shoulders relax from the tense position I didn't realize they were being held in. "Okay," I say over-casually. My heart skipped a beat.

* * *

 **Rose's Pov**

"Your asking her," I said, with a smile.

"Why me? It was your idea," Grayson said, as his ears turned pink, I laugh.

"Come on lover boy," I said, taking Grayson's hand and pulling him to where Lya was and push him into Lya.

"Rose!" Grayson yelled at me.

Then he turned to Lya "Sorry," Grayson said to her, while standing up.

"No prob," Lya said.

"Go on, ask her," I said to Grayson.

"Ask me what?" Lya said.

"Well, Rose and I were wanting to explore, and we kind of need a guide," Grayson explained to Lya.

"We don't want to get lost, so can you please be our guide," I said, giving Lya my puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," she said, with a sigh.

"Yay," I said, acting like a little kid.

"Thank you," Grayson said, being over-polite.

"Any time," Lya said.

"Let's go," I said, still acting like a little kid.

"Wait, like now? We're not had breakfast yet," Lya stated.

"We can have it later," I said.

"Ugh, fine! But why are you in such a rush?" Lya asked.

"I want to explore this place," I said, with a smile.

"Okay? I guess we can go now," Lya said, with a sigh, I smile and start to run through the right door, I heard them say a few words and ran after me.

I stopped in front of what looked to be a mine, "Hey, what's in here?" I asked Lya.

"Um, coal? If anything else was in here, it was cleared out long before this place fell," Lya said.

"Is it okay to go inside?" I asked.

"I don't see why not. I wish that I had some touches so that we could see, though," Lya said.

I walk in the mine and look around, then I felt His presence, "Rose? Are you alright?" Grayson asked me.

I don't respond to him, I walk deeper inside the mine, when I was out of site of Grayson and Lya, Herobrine teleports behind me and grabs my waist, my back hitting His chest.

"Hello again! Excited to see me!" He said with a big smile on His face.

I tried to get out of His grip but, He only tighten His hold on me, "Aren't you going to say something? I thought that when you rushed out the door you were all too eager to see me," Herobrine said, with the same smile.

"Gra-" I was stopped by Herobrine putting His hand over my mouth.

"Now, now. None of that. Let's go somewhere more...private to talk," He said and teleports us both somewhere.

"This is cozy enough," He said.

"Where did you take us?" I asked.

"Welcome...to my lair," Herobrine said, as he stopped at welcome to do a dramatic effect.

"What did you want to talk about?" I said serious.

"I want to talk about...YOU. Those two people you call 'friends' oh so rudely interrupted us last night. We might as well chat in privacy. So, what have you been doing?" He asked.

"Besides you giving me headaches and putting me to sleep, I'm fine," I said, narrowing my eyes at Him.

"Aw, are we still hung up on that? Come on," Herobrine said, I say nothing but still narrowing my eyes at Him.

"Cut me some slack! I did what I had to do, okay?" Herobrine said annoyed.

"I hate you," I said.

"Aw, you know you love me. Someday, you'll see it," He said.

"Take me back to my friends," I demanded, Herobrine crosses His arms.

"Why should I? They don't know where you are. In fact, deep down, I don't think they even care about where you are," He said.

"Armen trusted Grayson to look after me until he returned," I said.

"Yeah, but do you really think that he cares about you?" Herobrine said, I don't say anything.

"Ah, see? You know it's true," He said, I still don't say anything.

"Come on, admit it! He likes that other girl more than you. You're seen it in his eyes," He said.

"Your right" I said with a small smile.

"Say it louder," Herobrine said, with a singsong voice.

"Your right," I said a little louder.

"Thought so," He said.

"Grayson only cares for Lya not me," I said.

"See? Now, if I were to send you back there, do you think they would notice that you were gone?" He said.

"No they won't" I said.

"So, do you want to go back?" He asked me, I shake my head no.

"Good. Now that there will be no more distractions, the two of us can stay together...forever" He said, wrapping His arms around me.

* * *

 **Lya's POV**

Rose didn't say anything as she walked deeper and deeper into the mines. Then it was like she vanished or something. I stood uncomfortably in the entrance of the coal mines. I didn't want to have to go after her, but I might have to disregard my fear of these mines if she gets into trouble.

Grayson stood next to me, also unsure if he should enter after Rose. I thought I heard a yelp from the caves, and Grayson shifted as if he heard it too. But then it went quiet. We might have imagined it.

"Should we follow her" I didn't like caves.

He looked like he really wanted to. "Let's wait a few minutes. Rose is going through a lot right now. It is probably better if we just leave her be for now. Maybe she just wanted some nice peace and quiet."

"Well, I'm not standing around doing nothing." She sat down next to the path. Lya's red hair started to cover her eyes, and she pushed away the rebellious strands.

"So, how do you know of Herobrine?"

"Well, I saw Him attacking your friend."

"No, no, before that. Come on, it was obvious something happened to you."

I really wished that I could have been honest with him. "I would rather not talk about it. Maybe later."

He nodded, a little disappointed. "I understand."

"So how did you and Rose meet? Just curious."

Grayson scrunched up his face. "It is a long, long story."

"Well, we have time," I encouraged.

"So, a few days ago, I wake up inside this Arctic base like normal. Then I hear voices. These two guys, Drake and Armen, were talking. From what I gather, they didn't know how they got there. At first, I was just overly suspicious of them. Then I learned that the name "Collin" meant something to them. After that, I just let them stay there. Armen told me about the presence of this girl, Rose, but she was still asleep. The whole time we were there, she didn't wake up. We escaped through this portal, or at least I did. Before I went through, Armen told me to take care of Rose. I haven't seen any signs of either of them. To be completely honest, I'm not even sure if they are still alive. Maybe Herobrine killed them?"

Grayson stopped, looking almost saddened. All of this happened over a span of a couple of days. That is more adventure than what I've seen for a long time.

"How did Rose wake up?"

"I don't really know for certain. It was shortly after we came through. I found your house and took her there. Then she just..." Grayson paused, thinking back. "Woke up."

I nodded. "What would you have done if she didn't?"

"I'm not sure. I'd like to think that I would have continued to take care of her, but I could have just as easily left her to focus on myself."

Suddenly, Rose teleported in front of us. Her sandy-brown hair was covering the entire upper-half of her face.

"Rose?" I asked cautiously.

Relief flooded into Grayson's face. "Where have you been? We saw you walk deeper into the mines, and it was like you..." He bit his lip. "Uh, vanished or something."

Rose breathed deeply and didn't say anything.

I started to feel worried. "Rose? Are you okay? Something just seems...what's the word? Something seems off about you."

She briskly shoved her way past us without speaking.

Concerned, Grayson muttered, "Um, okay?"

Wanting to break the ice, I asked, "So, where do you want to go next?"

Rose didn't say anything. Instead, she made a sharp turn to the right. Next thing I knew, Rose was running straight for the city.

"Wait, wait! Where are you going?" I didn't think that she knew that Ironmyre was here. They've only been here for , like, a day.

"Hey, wait up!" Grayson called out. Both of us ran after her. I swear, what is up with these people and abruptly starting to run?

Rose stopped in front of the gates of Ironport. She stood there, frozen, as she struggled to find a way inside the once great city.

"Welcome to Ironport, the capital of Ironmyre."

Rose put a hand on the closed gate but didn't speak.

I joked, "So are you just going to ignore us for the rest of your life?" I wasn't expecting a reaction, so I was dismayed when she nodded.

Grayson frowned, having seen it too. "Why? What did we do? You were the one who went into the caves. What happened?"

Rose retorted bitterly, "Herobrine."

Oh no, not again. "Him? What did He do?"

Icily, she said, "He told you guys didn't care about me."

Grayson looked at her, hurt that she would ever think that. "And you believed Him? The same guy who put you into a coma and raped you?"

My mouth hung open, but Rose snarled, "He also said you cared more for Lya than for me."

The tips of his ears went pink. "None of that is true!"

She looked at him coldly. "Sure. You just don't want to say it in front of her, plus your face always goes red when you're around her."

His face turned even redder. Grayson's voice shook. "That's not true. I care for both of you. I kept you alive, didn't I? Before we met Lya."

Rose hissed, "Only because Armen asked you."

She glared at the two of us. I honestly was hurt as well. Why was she taking the word of a killer over ours?

A bright light momentarily blinded me, and when I regained my vision, I saw Herobrine with a smug look on His face.

Herobrine smirked at Grayson and I's looks of hate, anger, and confusion. In mock sympathy, He said, "Aw, am I crashing your happy little reunion?"

Grayson growled and lunged towards Him. "You!"

Herobrine grinned even wider as He stuck out a hand to keep the blond from touching Him. Not that He need to; I was restraining him already. "Tut, tut. Don't bite the hand that feeds you your fate."

Rose sighed in relief. "Hero!" Then she hugged Him. She hugged Him.

"Hero?" Grayson sputtered. Then, accusingly, he said, "What did you do to her, you monster?"

Herobrine hugged her back. Then Herobrine said with pride, "I made her like me."

"It's best if you leave us alone now," Rose muttered.

Grayson stared at Rose in disbelief. "Why are you falling for His trickery? What about Armen? What if he comes back and sees you fraternizing with the enemy?"

Rose didn't say anything. Instead, she continued to hug Herobrine.

I tried to grab her arm, but Rose pulled it away. Desperately, I whispered, "Why are you taking His word over us? Last time I checked, He wanted to kill us all. Well, maybe not you, but the rest of us. He WANTS you to not trust us."

Without looking at us, Rose said, "Hero, can we please leave? I don't want to talk to them anymore."

"Sure, sweetheart. Ta ta." Before they teleported away, Rose gave us a regretful look. Then they were gone.

I released Grayson. "Why'd you grab me?! Now both He and Rose are gone!"

I sighed, "He would have killed you. Don't you care about your life at all? Rose left out of her own personal choice."

"Why is she being so ungrateful? I kept her alive this long. And she left. Rose left us."

Stunned, I looked back at the closed gate. "We can come back later to check out the city. Let's just go back, okay?"

Grayson nodded without speaking. Since it was obvious that he was still mentally distressed from Rose's betrayal, I just left him alone.


	8. Chapter eight

_**My first lemon, so if don't read that kind of stuff then don't read.**_

* * *

 **Rose's Pov**

Hero teleported us to his lair, "Now, it's time for the ceremony and it will be very familiar to you," Hero said, as he got a knife out from nowhere and slit his wrist with the knife, the blood dripped into a bowl which also came out of nowhere.

Then he grabbed my wrist and did the same thing as he did with his wrist, my blood dripped into the bowl as well, I realized that He was using the same ceremony my parents used for Armen and I, Hero used one of his fingers to stir our blood together, then he chanted something that I remember my parents chanting.

Hero lifted the bowl to his lips and drank some, then gave the bowl to me and I did the same, I put the bowl down and turned to Hero, He had a big smile and His eyes were full of lust, He grabbed my hand and we teleported to a bedroom.

He leaned down and kissed me on the lips, I put both my arms around his neck to deepen the kiss and he put his arms around my waist to deepen the kiss even more, after what seemed like hours we finally separated for a breath, I looked at Hero with a smile, He smirked as he picked me up bride style and He walked to the bed.

Hero put me down on the bed and started to kiss my neck, I moaned, then He took my hoodie and my shirt off, to only leave my bra, I blushed "Your beautiful when you blush" He said, I blush then more from the comment.

Hero chuckled as he took off his t-shirt, His chest was so macular "Like what you see" Hero said.

I nod, He then started to take off my bra, when He was done I tried to cover myself from Him, "No need to be shy" Hero said, as He grabbed my hands and put them above my head, I try to get out of his grip but He tightens His grip on my wrists.

He smirks as sucked on my right breast, I moan from the feeling and He used His free hand to play with my left breast, after a few minutes He switched to sucking my left breast and with His free hand played with my right.

Hero stopped then went to pull my pants and underwear off, once I was completely naked He let go of my wrists, He took off pants until He was in His boxers, Hero put three fingers in my mouth and I sucked on them until they were completely wet, He pulled His fingers out of my mouth and one of His fingers in my womanhood and wiggled it inside me, I moan.

After awhile He adds another finger, then He starts to scissor me and after that He adds the last finger, He starts to scissor me again and I moan, then takes His fingers out of me and I wine, "If want me to continue, I suggest you beg," He said, with a smirk on His face.

"Hero, please I need you inside of me," I said with lust in my voice and my eyes.

"Very well then, my love," He said, as he took His boxers off and got on top of me.

He position Himself in front of my womanhood and I gave Him a nod to go ahead, He slides into me until He was fully in.

He waited for me to continue, "Go ahead," I said, Hero pulls out and goes back in, He did a slow pace.

"Hero please go faster and harder," I said to Him.

"My pleasure, my dear," He said, as He went faster and harder.

"Hero!" I yelled, his name as I put my head back in pleasure.

He lifted legs to above His shoulders so He could go deeper, "Hero, I'm going to cum," I said.

"Go ahead and cum for me," He said, I cum, my walls tighten around Hero member and thrusts a couple more times before cum inside me, He moved out of me and laid next to me on His side.

I move to face Hero and smile at Him, "Enjoy yourself?" He asked, I nod, my eyes start to close and I felt Hero move me closer to Him, so my head was laying on His chest.

"I love you Rose," He said.

"I love you too, Hero," I said, tiredly as I fell into a deep sleep.

 **Next morning**

I woke up to feel arms around me, I looked up to see Hero was wake also, "Hey beautiful, how did you sleep?" He asked me.

"I slept really well," I said, He started to kiss me passionately, we pulled away for air.

"Want to go for round two this morning?" He asked, I nod with a smirk on my face.

I jumped on top of Hero and grabbed His member with one hand, I lick the tip and He moaned, I put His member fully in my mouth and started to pump up and down, Hero started to pant and moan from the sensation, He grabbed some of my sandy-brown hair in His hands and I pumped faster.

"Rose, I'm going to cum," Hero said, as He came in my mouth and I swallowed all of it.

I let go of His member with a pop, "Okay, my turn," He said, pushing me on my back with a smirk of His own, by seeing that smirk I felt a shiver go down my spine.

He grabbed rope from out of nowhere and tied my hands together, then Hero went down to where my womanhood was and started to lick up and down, then He started to pump His tongue into me, I moan from the treatment Hero was giving me.

'Why am I always like this, when I have sex with Hero but not Armen?' I thought to myself.

When I was close to my release, "Hero, I'm gonna-" but I didn't finish my sentence because I came into His mouth with my juices and He swallowed all of it.

I was panting trying to catch my breathe, Hero got on top of me and looking down at me with His pale white eyes full of lust. He leaned down to kiss me passionately again, then we broke away for air, Hero lined up His member with my womanhood and started to pumped hard and fast inside me, I started to moan Hero's name when He hit my g-spot every time.

"I wonder how long will you last until you cum," Hero said, with a smirk on His face looking at me and going even faster and harder then normal.

"I can... last a... little longer," I said panting.

He leaned down to my neck and started to suck and lick my neck, I moaned His name and cumed. He thrust into me a couple more times before Hero yelled my name and cumed inside me with His seed.

He pulled out of me and laid beside me, He wrapped His arms around my waist and pulled me towards Him until my head was resting against His chest and I could hear His heart beat.

While I was listening to Hero's heart beat, my eyes were getting heavy and were starting to close, so I could sleep a good dream, before I fell asleep, "Good night Hero," I said.

"Sweet dream my flower princess," He said, I fell asleep.


	9. Chapter nine

_**Hey guys, here's the new chapter, sorry it took so long to write.**_

 ** _I have a question for all of you, how is your fav character in the story and why?_**

 ** _By the way, don't forget to R &R._**

 ** _RosetheHedgehog out._**

 **Rose's Pov**

It has been a year since I saw my friends, but I missed Armen a whole lot during the year, Hero tried to get my mind off Armen but it didn't work, I was sitting on the bed in Hero's and my room, 'When are Armen and Drake going to go through the portal,' as on cue, I felt Armen's presence.

I teleported behind one of the trees near the portal.

Then I saw Armen and Drake walking up the stairs, I walked out from behind the tree I was hiding behind, "Armen! Drake!" I yelled at them, they looked the way that they heard my voice.

"Rose?!" they said at the same time.

"Hey, long time no see," I said smiling.

'Grayson was right, they did come back,' I thought, Armen and Drake run up to me and give me a bear hug, I returned the hug.

"I missed you guys," I said.

"We missed you too," Drake said.

"So, when did you suddenly wake up from your deep sleep?" Armen asked me.

"When Grayson got to a hut, he put me down and I got control back from Him, then I woke up and I mistook Grayson for Armen," I said.

"I don't blame you, you thought I was going to be there when you woke up," Armen said, gaving me a kiss on the lips and I returned it.

"So, where is Grayson now?" Drake asked.

"I'll show you where he is," I said, walking in the direction of the hut.

'Grayson and Lya will not be happy to see me, after what I did,' I thought sadly.

"So, do you live with Grayson?" Drake asked, I just stop in my tracks.

"Rose, what's wrong?" Armen asks me.

"Um, not really. But, Grayson lives with a girl that we found then, we got here," I said.

"So, where do you live?" Drake asks me.

"I live in Ironmyre," I said, as I started walking again.

We got to the river near the hut that Grayson and Lya were, "So, what's the girls name?" Armen asked.

"Her name is Lya," I said.

"So, why did you move to Ironmyre?" Drake asked.

'Why do they have to ask so many questions?' I thought to myself.

"Well, I thought to give Grayson and Lya some time to live together and see if they like each other," I said.

"And, do they like each other?" Armen asked.

"Yeah, they do but, they won't admit it," I said, with a smile, we swam across the river to the other side bank.

We walked to the door of the hut and I opened the door to see Grayson and Lya standing there.

* * *

 **Grayson's POV**

Voices. Not the kind that I've grown used to, either. I vaguely recognized them, but I was still in sleep mode, so I was very groggy.

Lya yawned loudly. "Grayson, did you hear something." She yawned again.

I rubbed my eyes. "Yeah, I-" I froze when I saw that the door was open. Standing in the doorway were the three people I was sure that I would never see again. Drake and Armen both looked well, and I was happy to see them. But while Rose looked okay, too, I still remembered her treachery clearly.

"Hey guys." Rose smiled softly.

At that moment, every rope that was tethering my emotions and keeping them in check snapped. ""Hey guys!"" Is that all you can say after what you pulled?"

I glowered at her. Rose looked a little regretful, but I don't think that she had any intentions of saying sorry. Lya grabbed ahold of my arm, but I wasn't going to strike.

"What are you talking about?" Armen stared at me with his wide, baby-blue eyes. He was clueless, and I felt bad for him.

When Rose didn't respond, I snapped angrily, "So she didn't tell you?"

The dark-haired teen glanced at Rose. "What's going on, Rose?"

She stayed silent.

I put my hands on my hips, annoyed. "Well, are you going to tell them, or shall I?"

Rose looked at her feet uncomfortably. "You tell them," she mumbled.

"Well, all right then." I repositioned myself so that I can see both Drake and Armen, both of whom had their mouths agape. "So I save her life and bring her here. We meet Lya. Herobrine tries to take Rose away to be His lover, but we rescued her. Rose gets caught again. Then for some stupid reason, she decides that WE'RE," I pointed at Lya and myself, "the bad guys and goes off to live with Him."

"WHAT!" yelled Drake and Armen in unison. Armen looked at Rose uncertainly.

She nodded subtly and murmured, "It's true."

I crossed my arms. "See, she admits it." Why was she admitting to it, though? These were her real friends, were they not? Does she actually want to look bad in their eyes?

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

Like I cared. "Sorry doesn't begin to cut it," I snarled with a hostile look.

Lya grabbed my arm. "Calm down! Just, just chill, okay?"

Exhaling bitterly, I wheeled around to look at Lya. "How can you be okay with this?"

She faced Rose. Despondently, she answered, "I'm not saying it's okay, but we have to accept that what happened happened."

I clenched my fists and glowered at Rose. She watched me forlornly. Maybe she was sorry, but I did not care.

"It wasn't her fault." Armen hugged Rose tightly.

I heaved and whirled around. "Oh really?" I reproached. "How can you be sure? She ASKED Herobrine if she could leave. She knew what she was doing."

I never knew that Armen could be so aggressive. But the way he looked at me reminded me that he wasn't just a scared kid. "Don't forget, I'm her lover, too," he reminded coldly.

I exhaled. "Yeah, that may be true, but how do you explain her actions? SHE LEFT US!"

A gust of air blew around us, and a chill crawled up my body. Slowly, as if he was speaking to a child, Armen defended, "She was trying to protect you."

I was missing something. "If that was true, then why didn't she say something?"

Rose's "silent spell" went away. "He used the same ceremony as our parents used on us." She reached for Armen's hand.

I looked at Lya. Her brown eyes had widened in wonder. Drake, too, seemed surprised at this revelation. Speaking for the three of us, I stammered, "The what-oh-huh?"

Armen "elaborated," "She means that she and Him cut their wrists with a knife and their blood drips in a bowl and they stir it and chant something and then they drink it." He spoke so fast that when he was done, Armen had to take a breather.

Sarcastically, I sneered in disgust, "Yeah, that totally makes sense. Why?"

This time, it was Rose who answered me. "Meaning if I drink His blood, and if He drinks my blood, we become one, so we can sense each other and all that."

I only caught the drinking blood part. "Still don't see what YOU gain out of that."

She face palmed, and I realized that I missed a key element. "I can sense Him more easily than you guys, and it means I will get headaches more and much worse."

I didn't reply. Inside, I was fuming. I didn't like their arguments, but honestly, they did make sense. That didn't mean that I would admit it. Nor did it mean that my anger would abate.

Calmly, Rose asked, "Any more questions?" I could tell that she was ready for whatever I threw at her.

"No. Not for now, anyway." I leaned up against the wall of the hut. "Except this: why did you come back?"

Matter-of-factedly, she responded, "I sensed Armen, and I wanted to show them where you guys were."

I narrowed my eyes at her, but Lya silently motioned for me to lay off. Facing Drake and Armen now, I probed, "Now how did you guys get here? The portal shut itself off after I came through."

Confused, Armen answered, "I don't know."

Hopefully, I said, "Drake?"

"I have no idea."

I sighed and responded with the obvious. "Okay, does anyone else think that something big is going on here?"

As if to add further proof to my revelation, the sky started to brighten. I looked up in disbelief, as did Rose and Lya. The stars continued to twinkle, but the heavens were an unmistakable shade of blue now. It's been a long time since I saw the sky like that.

"That's new," whispered Rose in awe.

"Why is the sun coming up? It doesn't do that," contributed Lya.

Baffled, Armen chastised, "So you mean it's never been day?"

Lya signaled in the negative. "Nope. Never."

As it got brighter outside, I started to notice the features about her that were previously left undetected. From the lack of sunlight, her skin was pale like mine. A waterfall of red hair messily concealed her forehead. Her eyes were a chocolate color. But I knew of these. It wasn't until now that I saw that when she smiled, her mouth formed dimples.

Armen's voice snapped me back to reality. "Grayson, I would like to thank you for looking after Rose when you did."

Shocked, I turned to face him. Trying to conceal what I was thinking about, I replied, "Huh? You're welcome, I guess."

Rose put all of her weight onto the poorly erected wall. "So what have you guys been doing the past year?"

"A YEAR?!" The appalled response provided leeway for the awkward question to float away.

"Yeah, it's been a year." It's been a year since I met Lya. I technically knew her for a longer period of time than I did with Armen, Drake, and Rose since every one of them went M.I.A.

Rose caught me looking at Lya. I shook my head pleadingly. Rose smirked at Armen, and I could sense trouble a-brewing. "Hey Armen, Grayson has a crush on Lya."

"Do not!"

Rose, still simpering, solicited Lya for a response, "Lya, do you like Grayson?"

Before Lya could respond, Armen and Rose said together, "Come on, Grayson. Kiss her."

With the brighter light than usual, there was no way to hide my face turning red. "Shut up. Shouldn't we be forming a game plan."

The two sang mockingly, "Grayson and Lya sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"

As if feeling sorry for me, Drake spoke up, "I agree with Grayson."

I could kiss him right now. "Thank you, Drake."

Looking slightly disappointed, Rose mentioned, "Hero's lair in Ironmyre."

"Wait, for real?" I gawked at her.

"Well, that'd explain a lot, actually," said Lya slowly. I agreed.

"I can show you where Hero's lair is if you want."

The offer sounded good. A little too good if you ask me, but I can't complain right now. "That'd be awesome, but we kinda don't even have any weapons."

What I meant was that we had no useful weapons. In the past year, Lya's sword has run down, and I lost my gun a long time ago.

Rose smiled mysteriously. "While drinking Hero's blood, I earned some powers."

Authentically interested, Lya questioned, "Like what?"

"Water, fire, earth, wind, etc."

"Cool."

A little bitterly, I interrupted, "Well sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't think the rest of us can use any of those abilities. Are there any, I dunno, armories?"

Rose nodded in the affirmative. "There is an armory where the front gate is."

You'd think that I'd know about it considering the times I've been to the city with Lya. Maybe it was because we were being distracted by Him.

"That's good, that's good. " I sighed in relief. "We should head out, then."

Rose brushed her hair from her face. "Okay. Last one there is a rotten egg!"

Quickly, I interjected, "Um, okay, but I don't think the others know where they're going."

She nodded, a bit disheartened. Then she winced slightly. "Hero is watching us."

The smile vanished from Lya's lips. "We've got to move, fast."

Rose provided a useful solution. "By the way, I can teleport us to Ironmyre."

"Well, that's perfect then. Let's go!"

* * *

 **Rose's Pov**

"Everyone hold hands," I said, I saw Grayson reach for Lya's hand.

Armen and I looked at each other, then looked at Grayson and Lya with a smirk, I close my eyes and focus on the front of Ironmyre, I felt the weird sensation of my body teleporting and my energy being drained.

I opened my eyes to see we were in front of Ironmyre, "Okay, where here," I said.

"Woah, that felt weird," Grayson said, I fell to my knees weak.

"You okay?" Lya said, with some worry in her voice.

"Yeah, it just takes a lot out of me when teleporting, but I'm fine," I said, with a small smile.

"Alright, cool," Lya said.

"Who's going to open the gate?" I asked standing up.

"I can," Grayson said, jumping and grabbing one of the vines, Grayson climbs the vine up to the hole in the wall and goes through the hole, he walks to the gate and opens it.

"The army is over there," I said, pointing to the right, we go through the door and look around.

"None of this will be any good against Him," Lya said.

"Well, there is a library near here, if you you want to check it out?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lya said and putting down a sword she was looking at.

I walked out of the army and looked out the open gate to see Hero standing on the bridge, looking at me, my eyes go wide, "What is it?" Lya asked, noticing my eyes going wide.

"Hero" I said, with some fear.

"Are you alright? Do you need to sit down or something?" Lya asked me, I say nothing.

Armen and Drake look out the open gate, "I don't see anything," Armen said.

"He was there a couple seconds ago," I said, Lya looks out the gate.

"I didn't see anything, but I doubt He's there," Lya said to me.

"But I saw Him," I said to Lya.

"Are you sure, you haven't gone crazy while living with Him?" Drake asked.

"Do we look crazy?" Lya and Grayson said at the same time with annoyed faces.

"I was saying it more to Rose, than you two," Drake said.

"No, I haven't!" I yelled at Drake.

"Woah, woah. Easy there child. Stay calm now, would'a?" Lya said, I sighed and started to walk to the library.

"Do we just...follow her?" Grayson asked, the others.

"Are you going to follow me or not?" I asked, them a little annoyed.

"Might as well," Armen said.

"Plus she knows the way," Drake said.

"It's settled, then," Grayson said, they followed me, it was a short walk and we reached the library.

"Here is the library," I said walking inside.

"Why haven't I went in here before? We did go into the city, once..." Grayson said, as his voice trails off.

"Can we stay quiet about that? Please?" Lya said, Grayson nods, I walk over to them.

"I know you guys came more than once," I said with a calm face, Grayson's face darkens.

"I'd ask how you knew that, but I already know the answer," Grayson said, with some anger in his voice.

"I always watch you guys when you came here," I said, as my face was still calm.

"That is a 'little creepy' I'm not going to lie," Grayson said, as his voice changed to have some fear in his voice when he said 'little creepy' and I didn't blame him.

"When Hero sensed you guys, He would ask me to spy on you," I said, face still calm.

"That doesn't make things better," Grayson said, now a little annoyed.

"Sorry for all the trouble I caused," I apologize to them.

"It's alright. What's important is that you're here now," Lya said, with a smile.

"Can we become friends?" I asked Lya.

"What? Yeah," Lya said, with a soft smile and I smile as well, Grayson coughs to get our attention.

"Okay. I know that this is a good bonding moment, but...I found something," Grayson said, pulls the lever next to him, at the same time I was standing where it was opening and I fell down the hole on my butt and it really hurt.

"Ow!" I said, with pain.

"Are you okay?" Grayson asked with some worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, Lya walks down the stairs.

"Woah," Lya said, looking around.

"What's down here?" Grayson asked, when we didn't respond Grayson jumped down.

"Oh my god..." Grayson said, surprised from what was down here.

I stand up and look around and I spot a book on some empty shelves, "Hey, look over there," I said, walking towards the shelves and picked up the book.

"What does it say?" Grayson asked me, I flipped through some of the pages.

"Looks like a book about this city's history," I said.

I shut the book and hand it to Grayson to have a look, "Let me see," Armen yells and walks downstairs with Drake behind him.

"I think it's a history of this place," Grayson said.

"That's what I said moron," I said face palming.

"Yeah, yeah," Grayson said, Lya laughs.

Then I heard glass shattering from upstairs.

"Now what?" Grayson asked, I run upstairs to see what it was then, I saw Him and I blacked out.

* * *

 **Armen POV**

I waited a couple minutes for Rose to come back down but she didn't, I ran up the stairs and spotted Rose asleep in His arms, "What did you do to her?" I yelled at Him.

"She's been gone too long, and now you've poisoned her mind," He said calmly.

"Armen, what's going on up there?" Drake yells, from downstairs but I don't answer Drake.

"We haven't poisoned her mind, your the one who is poisoning her mind you monster," I yell at Him.

"Sure I am, kid," He said still calm.

"She belongs with me, not you," I yell at Him.

"La la la, not listening," He said, with a smirk.

'That's the last straw,' I thought angry, I tried to punch Him but, something or someone grabbed me and held me back, I turn around to see Grayson holding me back.

"Let me go Grayson," I said to Grayson angry.

"Armen, He WANTS you to get angry. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Grayson said, annoyed and trying to calm me down, I look to Hero and give Him my death look.

"If you hurt her, I will kill you with my own hands," I said to Him.

"I'd love to see the day when you hurt me. Not that you'd be able to, you weak human," He said, with a smirk, I do my best to calm down and I got out of Grayson's grip.

"What are you going to do with her?" I asked Him.

"That is between me and her," He said.

"I know you are going to use me and Rose to get rid of our friends but it won't work," I said.

He strokes His chin, "And how can you be so sure?" He said.

"I will find a way to stop you," I said, I notice that Rose was waking up, Grayson takes a notice to this.

"We'll find a way to stop you," Grayson said, trying to distract Him.

"Yeah, good luck with that," He said with a evil smirk.

"Hero, why are you doing here?" Rose asked Him.

He was surprised to see that she was awake, "Oh, hello, love," He said, with a smile.

'I really want to punch He's lights out for saying that to her,' I thought with anger.

"What are you doing here?" Rose said serious.

"It's time to bring you home," He said,

"Sorry Hero, but I can't," Rose said.

"And why not?" He said, raising a eyebrow.

"I can't leave my friends and Armen," Rose said.

"Your friends? You're supposed to hate them. They've poisoned you against me," He said, a little angry.

"No they haven't, I'm sorry," Rose said, she teleports next to me, Rose gives Him a small sad smile.

"Sorry? Oh, you'll be sorry alright..." He says angrily, He teleports away angrily, I hug Rose and Rose starts to cry.

"Did that just happen" Drake said, with shock.

"I don't really know. Maybe this is all a dream," Lya said, Drake pinches Lya in the arm.

"OW! Okay, it's not a dream!" Lya said.

"You did the right choice," I said to Rose.

"I know, but why does it hurt so much," Rose said, calming herself down.

"Do we continue on?" Grayson asked us.

"Yeah," Rose, Drake and I said at the same time.

"I agree. Where to?" Lya asked.

"There is a church near here," Rose said, letting go of me.

"I guess we can go there," Grayson said.

"Do you know where it is or do you want me to show you where it is?" Rose asks Grayson.

"You can lead the way if you like," Grayson said.

"Okay, follow me," Rose said, walking out of the library.

"After you, I guess," Lya said, we arrive at the church but it was locked.

"It's locked," Rose said.

"Screw that. Armen, give me your dagger," Grayson said, I give the dagger to him.

"Why do you need it?" I asked Grayson.

"it looks like it fits," Grayson said, he unlocks the door.

"Wait, what!?" I said.

"Where did we find it again?" Drake asks me.

"Was it a town named Ruby Shire?" Rose asked me then, we hear lightning.

* * *

 **Rose POV**

"We should get inside," Lya said, walking inside the church.

"I agree," I said, walking behind Lya inside the church.

"Hey look," I said, pointing to some Mage outfits but, the blue and gold one caught my eye.

"Oh, wow," Lya said, I walk towards the blue and gold mage outfit.

"I like this and at the same time, I feel attached to it," I said.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Put it on then," Lya said, I put the blue and gold Mage outfit.

"Wow," I said.

"Let's go downstairs," Armen said, we walk down the stairs to see other items, in one case was a gold necklace with a red gem.

I went to the case with the necklace and I opened the case, I put the necklace on and I felt magic coming from the necklace then, I walked back to the group, Lya was leaning on the wall then, suddenly it opened a hidden door, I went to look upstairs to see Hero at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, Jesus," I said, I ran behind Armen shaking.

"Come on," Grayson said, walking through the hidden door Lya found and the rest of us follow, I shut the door behind us and walked downstairs.

"Woah, look at this place," I said, looking around the room.

"Look at all the plant-life," Lya said, looking at all the plants in the room.

"Look over there," I said, pointing to the three types of armor and weapons.

"Look at this," Grayson said, pointing to a set of armor that was iron with a green gem in the chest plate and was chanted, so it had a purple tint to it.

"Look at this one," Armen said, pointing to another set of armor that was navy blue with orange and yellow on the chest plate.

"Don't tell me that this one is for me," Lya said pointing to some leather armor.

"What about me," Drake said.

"Sorry Drake, I can't see anything for you," I said.

"Sucks to be you," Grayson said, grinning playfully.

"I agree with Grayson on this one," Armen said, also grinning playfully.

"You guys suck," Drake said.

"Poor Drake," I said, hugged him.

"Ah, don't be too hard on yourself. All I get is a stupid set of leather armor," Lya said, trying to cheer Drake up.

Armen puts his armor on, "That looks good on you," I said to Armen.

"He doesn't have a sword, though," Grayson said, putting his armor on and Lya put hers on as well.

"Well Armen can get one upstairs, actually I found this up there," I said, showing them the necklace I found.

"Wow, that is very pretty. I mean, I am not usually one for bling, but that is pretty," Lya said.

"Well, if you want I can give it to you after we defeat Hero," I said to Lya.

"No, it's fine. You keep it. It looks good on you," Lya said.

"Hey Lya, look next to your armor," I said.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Is that an actual sword that is not made of something so lame?" Lya asked, looking at the deep sapphire sword with some purple around the edges.

"The sword suits you," I said to Lya.

"It really does, doesn't it," Lya said, pulling out the sword and swings it in the air.

"Hey Grayson, what do think the sword looks on Lya?" I asked, Grayson with a smirk, I wanted to get a response out of Grayson.

"Oh, um... It looks nice" Grayson said, trying to find the right words to say.

"Grayson, could you read that book I gave you?" I asked Grayson.

"Yeah sure, In the year 1202, a lone man crossed into the barbaric land of Lardoff, Lardoff was the land of warring tribes of savages. This man somehow singlehandedly United the warring tribes. He created an army to invade the lands of Minecaftia," Grayson said, reading some of the book.

"Who was the invader?" I said, but I had a feeling who it was.

"I'm not sure. Let me read on. There's another page. Minecraftia had five kingdoms. The strongest were Ironmyre-" Grayson said, but was interrupted by Armen.

"What are the other kingdoms?" Armen asked.

"Will you stop interrupting Grayson please," Drake said, with a annoyed face.

"It's fine. The strongest was Ironmyre. The next was Algeria. The next was Whitewater. They were the strongest. The weakest were Silverridge and Armada. The armies of the lone man who came to be known as... Herobrine," Grayson said, stopping at 'as' before saying Hero's name.

Everyone's eyes go wide, I walk to Grayson's side and point to something he missed, "And His lover," I said.

"Oh my," Grayson said, then I start having a flashback of one of my dreams with Hero and a girl that looked like me.

"No, this can't be," I said, falling to my knees and start to cry.

"Are you okay?" Grayson asked me with worry.

"What is it?" Lya asked me, Armen kneels next to me.

"What's wrong?" Armen asks me with a worried face, I lift my head to look at them.

"I'm... His... Past... Lover" I said slowly.

"What?" Grayson said shocked.

"I don't care if you are His past lover, I still love you and you still are my sister," Armen said to me.

'Half my heart belongs to Armen and the other belongs to Hero,' I thought, I hug Armen tightly.

"I don't want to interrupt anything, but do you want me to continue?" Grayson said, uncomfortable with the situation.

"Go ahead, keep reading," Drake said.

"Herobrine and His lover invaded Armada. They burned, they pillaged, and they took every man, woman, and child and burned them alive," Grayson said reading, I got flashbacks of everyone burning alive, I let go of Armen and held my head from all the pain the flashbacks I was getting.

"Rose, do you need to sit down?" Lya asked me, I don't respond because of all the pain in my head.

"Do you want me to continue later?" Grayson asked worried that if he read more I would get worse.

"Just keep reading," Drake said to Grayson.

Armen holds me tightly and saying comforting words to help me calm down my headache, Grayson continues, "They took the metals, melted them down to turn them into weapons they used in their war against the rest of Minecraftia. Herobrine's army now had their eyes on Silverridge. Silverridge sent diplomats asking for help from the rest of the Minecraftians. They ignored Silverridge's plea for help, and Silverridge fell in a meter of days. Refugees flooded into the rest of Minecraftia. There's about five more pages. Should I read them?" Grayson asked.

"Summarise them, but for now we need to help Rose and get out of here," Drake said.

"Okay. I'll try to hurry," Skims through the pages.

"Basically the last three kingdoms united against Him, and they met Herobrine's army in the valley of Stoneheim, where their armies were destroyed. Herobrine destroyed Whitewater, then Algeria. Herobrine started destroying the villages of Ironmyre. The defensive army was in Ironport, which was where we were earlier. Ironport fell, and the army stationed there was burned alive. Herobrine's conquest was almost complete. There was a five-year siege on Ironmyre's capital. Both sides had major losses. It looks like Ironmyre was able to hold their own against Him because they had weapons from the Imperial Forge. Then a lone man with a large cross led the army of Minnecraftians and defeated Herobrine's army. Herobrine was banished. Two hundred years later, new heroes have arisen and defended Ironmyre. Oh, and there are rumours of the Cult of Herobrine. That's pretty much it," Grayson said, finishing the book.

"What happened to His lover?" Armen asked Grayson.

"Doesn't say, or at least I don't see where," Grayson said.

"The guy who destroyed Hero's army killed me," I said, as I had a flashback of Notch killing me.

"Wait, so why are you here, alive?" Lya asked me.

"I was reborn," I said, answering Lya's question.

"Reborn? You mean, like, come back to life? How?" Grayson asked me.

"I don't know idea myself but, I was reborn into Armen's family to restart my life again," I said to Grayson.

"Do you have any ideas why?" Lya asked me.

'Why so many questions,' I thought.

"I don't know," I said to Lya.

"Right. Is that all in the book?" Lya asked Grayson.

"Yeah, that's the end of it," Grayson said.

"Let's go upstairs," I said, walking up the stairs to the hidden door and opened it, I walked into the room full of items.

Then all of us were in the room Drake shut the hidden door, "Hey, look at this shield," Grayson said pulling out the shield from the case.

"Go ahead, it's yours," I said to Grayson.

"Cool. I also found these upstairs," Grayson said, pulling out some pipes, which I think they were called the pipes of time.

"Is there anything you guys want down here before we go upstairs?" I asked them.

"I kind of like that bow," Lya said, pointing to Arisco's bow.

"Go ahead and grab it, Armen, do you want the Cross of Mercy since it apparently destroyed three thousand undead?" Grayson asked Armen.

"Sure," Armen said, grabbing the cross.

"How about me?" Drake asked.

"Is there anything around here that you like? There was Argoth's Blade if you want to take that," Lya asked Drake.

"Might as well," Drake said, grabbing the blade.

"Let's go outside," I said, walking up the stairs.

"Sounds good," Lya said, following me then, when we get outside we hear a explosion from a falling star from somewhere in the city.

"Why are the stars falling?" Armen asked.

"I don't know. It hasn't happened until you guys get here," Lya said, pointing at Armen and Drake.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Armen asked Lya, with a raised eyebrow.

"The stars didn't start falling until you and Drake came through," Lya said, rudely to Armen.

"Is that a bad thing?" Drake asked Lya.

"It could be, or it could not," Lya said.

"It's best if I defeat Hero," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Well, you aren't doing it alone," Grayson said to me.

"Hero will kill you, if you let your guard down like in the first fight you had with Him, I don't want to lose you guys," I said, trying to get my point across.

"I'm not going to let that happen this time," Grayson said, making up his mind.

"I'm the only one who can stand up to Him," I said to Grayson.

"I agree with Grayson on this one," Armen said.

"Agreed," Drake said, also agreeing.

"And I agree. We're all in this together," Lya said.

"Fine, *sigh* but if you get hurt it's your fault," I said to them.

"I think I can live with that," Grayson said.

"Where should we go now?" I asked.

"Well, there's a church here, right? I dunno, I just feel like we should go there," Lya said.

"Okay, let's go," I said, Lya leads the way.

"Have you ever heard of the Imperial Forge?" Lya asks me.

"Yes, I have, that is where they built all of the weapons to destroy Hero and me," I said.

"Maybe after we get to the church, we can go there. Do you know where it is?" Grayson asked me.

"I don't know where it is," I said honestly.

"Maybe there is a map in the library," Armen said.

"Let's check there," Lya said.

* * *

 **Lya's POV**

Rose grinned. "Last one there is a rotten egg."

I was about to protest, but then I remembered that since we've all been to the library, it was fair game. I started to jog after her. "You're on!"

"You're so on!" Armen started to run after me, leaving Drake and Grayson behind.

"Hey, wait up!" called out Drake tiredly.

"But what's life without a little competition?" Grayson asked with a small smile. I slowed down, and so did Armen. I was curious to see how this would play out.

In a childish voice, Rose sing-songed, "Come on, slow pokes. I'm winning because you guys are sooo slow!"

Grayson looked Drake in the eyes and smirked. "Okay, coming!" Just as Drake was about to start sprinting, Grayson stuck his foot out and caused Drake to fall flat on his face. I giggled as he started to race in the direction of the library.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Drake protested.

Rose smirked at Drake, then, with a snap of her fingers, she teleported away.

Grayson teased with a twinkle in his eyes, "Nothing's fair in love and war." Abruptly, he started running again. I blinked a couple of times to snap out of it and started running after Grayson.

He made it to the library before me, but I was close behind him. Armen apparently started after me. Drake, who took a really long time to stand up again, was last.

Drake glared at Grayson darkly. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and his mouth barely opened when he spoke. "I hate you, Grayson."

Grayson scoffed. "No you don't; I'm lovable." I snickered.

All at once, Drake curled his hand into a fist and hit Grayson in the arm. I heard a loud smack as his hand made contact with Grayson.

Grayson barely flinched. "Now, now. No need to get mad." He smiled jokingly.

Rose laughed. "You guys can go downstairs and find the map; I will stay up here and keep guard."

Grayson nodded in the affirmative. "Okay, will do." He pushed past me. I followed him along with Drake and Armen.

I had barely removed my feet from the landing when I heard something shatter. My body tensed. I expected for Rose to call for backup, but she didn't. Then she started talking, but not to any of us.

"What are you doing here?"

Bewildered, I looked at everyone else. They seemed just as confused as I was. Well, not entirely; Armen stiffened.

A deep voice crooned, "You and your stupid "friends" can't kill me. I am invincible."

Rose scoffed. "Yeah right. Notch defeated you and killed me, remember."

The demon stayed silent, choosing His words carefully. Honestly, I wonder if either of them even knew that we were listening in. Finally, Herobrine admitted, "That may be true, but there's one thing he didn't count on."

A tad bitterly, Rose asked, "And what is that?"

But we couldn't hear anything else. I strained my ears to eavesdrop just slightly more, but I couldn't make out the words. To avoid giving myself a headache, I gave up trying to listen.

Eventually, Herobrine said, quite loudly, "I'll decide to keep quiet about that…for now."

What in the world was that supposed to mean? Keep quiet? It was kind of ironic that He chose to raise His voice to say that. Almost as if…He wanted us to hear Him. Herobrine wanted us to distrust her.

Rose came down the stairs, alone. "Did you guys find the map yet?"

Grayson awkwardly answered her. "Yeah, we did."

None of us could fool her. "You guys heard us didn't you?"

Grayson sighed loudly. It was pretty well understood to all of us that there was no point I trying to hide it. "Um, not all of it. You kind of started whispering towards the end. What was the last thing you said?"

"Yeah," I revealed, "We heard Herobrine say that He was going to keep quiet about something. Do we get to know?"

Rose looked away secretively. "No, you don't."

Truthfully, I could tell that the four of us felt disappointed. With a fake smile, however, Grayson said, "It's fine. Well, here's the map if you want to look at it."

Rose brushed it away from her. "No, it's okay, just take us to the forge!"

The way how she said it, the way how her voice sounded stressed, caused Grayson to give her a worried glance. "Will do. To the forge." He marched up the stairs and out the door to the outside.

We followed him outside. Carefully, we tread along the path, slightly on guard. Constantly, when Rose didn't seem to be looking, Grayson, Drake, Armen, and I would give her worried glances. She shouldn't be hiding things from us. It never did anyone good.

We entered a shop. Lining practically every shelf carried bottles of some dark liquid that gave me a bad feeling. There was a table with an odd book, and there was a sign on the wall.

"Found the cult," I announced, disgusted.

"Sacrifice the innocent to Him," Rose read aloud.

Grayson snorted sarcastically. "Well, that's a happy sign."

"No kidding." I smiled a little. We stared into each other's eyes.

Rose walked up to one of the vials. "Look in here."

Grayson blinked out of his trance. "What, what is it?"

Rose dipped her hand into the thick liquid and removed it to show the rest of us. It was unmistakably blood.

Quickly, I yelled, "Why'd you put your hand in it?"

She shrugged. "Well, it thinks." She shook her hand, splashing Grayson, Drake, Armen, and I. I wiped the substance off of my face and stared at the red stains on my white tunic. They were so noticeable. I'll have to wash it soon.

Grayson glared at her. "Do you mind?"

Rose snickered. "Sorry." She paused. "At the same time, it's funny."

I decided that my shirt was a lost cause. "Can we just move on?"

Without waiting for an answer, I exited the building. I heard their footsteps behind me and smiled a little. Whoever this guy, or girl, was, their religion did not help them out in the end. They still met the same, untimely demise as their fellow villagers. You really can't escape your fate.

It was still dark, as usual. We came up to a building that was once ornate with glass windows and lovely carpets. Long pews stood in rows. The wood was rotting, and it made me sad. Sad that this place was left to rot.

"Church of Notch." Rose pointed at the sign.

I've heard that name, Notch. When I was a child, my parents used to speak of him quite fondly. Then one day, he seemed to practically disappear. At least, that's what I grew to believe. He certainly didn't do anything to help me and my family.

"Let's go inside," Armen whined.

We all filed inside the building. Grayson moved to the back where a priest must have once preached his sermons. "Nothing really stands out to me about this place, but at the same time, it feels important." He looked at the pulpit absentmindedly.

Rose perked up. "Hey Armen, can I have the dagger for a sec?"

Armen flipped the weapon so that he could safely pass it to her. "Sure, why?"

Rose did not respond. She climbed up onto the wooden platform where sermons were once preached and crouched down in front of a knot. She twisted the blade inside. The floor opened up to reveal a flight of stairs.

Drake asked her suspiciously, "How did you know it was there?"

"Does it matter?" I urged. "Let's just go."

Abruptly, Rose shoved us forward towards the steps. "Go in now!"

"What's with the rush?" Grayson protested, slightly bitterly.

"Just trust me, you don't want to know." What could it be that she felt inclined to keep it from us? I don't like her secretive nature. Even though sometimes I could be that way.

"Okay, I guess?"

"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." We walked into a room with water and a magical tree. A book was in front of the life-giving plant. An armor stand stood in the back, emitting a faint glow.

"I agree with you on that." Drake scanned the area warily.

Rose walked up to the book and opened it, causing a cloud of dust to fly up into the air. Her eyes widened.

"What does it say?" Grayson asked.

"It says all of our names," Rose murmured.

"What?" I couldn't help but outburst.

"It also says that the armor behind us belongs to Armen." She gestured to the purplish set behind us.

"What?!" Armen stared at the set in disbelief.

Grayson narrowed his eyes. "How is the even possible? With the exception of Lya, we weren't supposed to be a part of this world?"

Armen shoved Rose out of the way. "Let me have a look." The moment his fingertips grazed the onionskin thin pages, an eye on the tree opened. It peered at him thoughtfully, as if trying to determine the strength of his character.

Drake squeaked, "What the hell, did the eye on the tree just open?"

I nodded, and Rose face-palmed. "In the book, it says that Armen is the Chosen One, and the armor behind us is the Chosen One's armor."

Armen walked over the armor and started to remove the set he was already wearing. He replaced it with the new set.

"Does it say anything else?" I tapped my chin.

Gravely, Rose replied, "Two of the five suffer, while the rest will feel great pain."

The sounded ominous, frankly. "Well, that doesn't sound pleasant at all."

Armen came back, his face almost completely obscured by the periwinkle and indigo helm. "Ah, the power!" They he started to walk on water. The water was not even disturbed.

"What. The. Hell." Drake gawked at his best friend.

Grayson asked, "What is he doing?"

Rose smiled knowingly. "That armor lets him walk on water."

I wheeled on her. "How does one set of armor allow the user to defy the laws of physics?"

Rose answered, "It's just how the armor was built."

I stamped my foot. "But how, though. Is there some kind of material that allows this?" I wouldn't let this stand in the way of the pursuit of knowledge.

"One word." Rose made a hand gesture. "Magic."

I gave in just so that we could move on. "True. Does the book say anything else?"

She looked at the book again. "There was a sword that was made to kill Hero, and it was called the Fiery Sword."

I tried to look over her shoulder, but it was written in a foreign language. "Does it say where it is now or if it even still exists?"

Rose shook her head. "It hasn't been made yet, but we can make it in the Imperial Forge."

Grayson asked, "Does it say how?"

Rose frowned. "Well, all the stuff has been gathered to make it."

"Well, where is it?" Grayson urged eagerly.

Rose looked at him coolly. "Well, you can figure it out." She threw the book at Grayson. It hit him upside the head and fell into the palm of his left hand.

Grayson rubbed the spot where it hit him. "Fine." I giggled.

"Cool." I paused for a moment. "Where exactly are we going?"

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Ask Grayson; he's the one with the map."

Grayson looked down at the illustration. There were more words for the different locations, and there were many. Grayson traced a finger over a spot. "Okay. This way."

We exited the church and reentered the plant-overtaken ruins. The sun beat down our backs.

"Was it day when we went down?" Rose complained, staring at the sun. She looked down to avoid getting blinded by the fiery waves.

"I don't know."

Meanwhile, Armen was strutting around in his shiny new set of armor. "My armor is so cool…well, better than Grayson's at least."

Grayson made an offended face. "Really? Do you really have to say that?"

Armen snickered. "Yes, I HAD to say that, Grayson." Rose laughed and gave him a fist bump.

I could not explain why, but I wanted to defend Grayson. "Hey, all I've got is leather, and Drake doesn't even have any."

All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my head. The veins started to throb with every heartbeat. I groaned and held my head, as did everyone else. Rose fell to her knees.

"What WAS that?" Grayson groaned, still clutching at his temple. He looked like he was about to be sick.

Rose coughed up blood and splattered the street with the stuff. I felt nauseous. "Is this…" I vomited, "…normal?"

"No." Rose wiped the blood around her mouth with her jacket.

Grayson couldn't hold it in any longer and puked blood onto the map. "How did we all feel that?"

"I think you vomited on the map," Rose pointed out.

Grayson shrugged it off and looked at the blood-soaked parchment. "That's okay; I can just wipe it off…or at least I think I can."

Rose walked behind Grayson. "I think the blood on the map is moving."

Armen held his nose and scrunched up his face. "Ew, throw it!"

When it appeared that Grayson was about to ball it up and toss it away, I protested, "But wait, we need the map!"

"Maybe you can clean it?" Rose suggested.

Grayson nodded. "Yes, maybe." He wiped off some of the blood with his arm.

"Do you at least remember some of the way?" Drake asked urgently. I looked around nervously.

Grayson nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. Come on, this way."

We started to follow him. Grayson had the makings of a good leader. I was perfectly fine with following him to the ends of the earth.

Rose fell behind. I heard her jump, and then she moved in front of me, shaken. Drake held his head. Dazed, Rose pointed at a rotting creature up ahead. It looked like a pig and zombie hybrid. "Hey guys, look ahead of us."

I stared at it in confusion. "How did THAT get there?"

"Maybe Hero sent it?" She held out her hand. Water started to encircle her fingers. Rose's necklace turned blue. She released the water magic, and it hit the pigman. The pressure of the water was too much for the creature, and it tore him apart. He still moaned, however.

"Woah! What did you just do?" I felt on guard again.

Rose stared at the pile of pig mush. "I will explain later. Grayson, could you finish him off?"

Grayson took the ironwood sword out of its scabbard. "No problem." He stabbed the undead monster in the head, thus destroying the brain.

Drake looked behind us, and then he held his head. "I've got another migraine."

I unclipped the water bottle from my belt. "Do you need some water? If so, we're going to have to split it."

Drake refused it. "No, I'm fine."

It wasn't meant to be for him to avoid water. Droplets of rain stared to fall, and they sped up rapidly. The light shower turned into a downpour.

"Great," Rose said sarcastically. "It's raining."

"Get inside!" Grayson yelled powerfully. Then the rain stopped. That was too weird.

Rose looked at the sky distrustfully. "So where is the forge?"

Grayson answered awkwardly, "It is…" He double-checked the map. "This way." He folded it in half and moved forward through the deserted city.

Light shone from one of the abandoned structures. Cautiously, Rose went to investigate. She disappeared through the door.

Moments later, her voice called out from inside the house, "Guys, come over here."

Armen led us inside. He moved towards a hole full of lava. He stepped back in shock. "Oh Jesus."

Drake stared at the magma skeptically. "I have jumped through lava many times with Armen…" He thought about what he said. "Okay, maybe it was only once but still."

Only once? Why do these people like to jump through lava at all? They really were crazy, then. "We should probably not get too close to it."

I kicked a rock into the magma. The pebble liquefied upon contact, and its residue disappeared into the molten orange lake.

Rose proposed, "Let's go upstairs and see if there is anything useful that we could use."

"Good idea," I said worriedly. For some reason, the lava was giving me an awful feeling. I tore my gaze from the pit, yet I still felt uneasy. I followed her upstairs.

"Hey guys, there's a backpack up there."

Grayson jumped to attempt to grab it, but he was too short. "Anything in it?"

Rose flew up there and opened it. "There is a key in here." She pulled it out for us to see. It was an old key. The silver was bent and covered in tarnish from age.

"A key? Do you have any idea for what?"

Rose landed next to us. "Maybe the forge?"

I shrugged. "Could be. Is there anything else here?"

Rose sat down on the floor. "You guys can check in the other room if you want."

Grayson nodded. "Sounds good." Then his eyes landed on something in the next-door room. He tried to pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. "There's a chest, but it's locked."

Rose held up the key in the light. "I doubt that the key I have opens it."

I said, "Most likely not, but it won't hurt to try." Grayson nodded, eying it feverishly.

Rose passed the object to him. Grayson jammed it into the lock and twisted the handle. The lock rattled but didn't come undone. "You're right; it didn't do anything."

Rose nodded. "Let's go downstairs." She found a hole in the floor and jumped through.

"Whatever happened-" As I said that, Grayson was shoving the key into his pocket and was jumping through, as well as Armen and Drake. "To using the stairs?"

Alone, I descended the steps. Rose was coughing up more blood. "Rose?"

Armen took her into his arms. "Are you okay?"

Rose paled. "I don't know." She coughed up more blood.

I pulled out a three-legged chair from under a broken table. "Do you need to sit down and take a breather?"

She waved my gesture away. "Let's just get to the forge."

Grayson narrowed his eyes, and for a second there, I thought that he would have started asking questions. "Whatever you say."

"To the forge!" I marched out of the house and prayed to the Goddess that we wouldn't encounter any other distractions.

Then Armen started fan-boying over a ghost dog. A stupid phantom of a mutt. Why couldn't it have been a real, living, breathing dog?

"Is that…a dog?"

My head started to hurt again. When I opened my eyes again, the god was gone.

"Where did it go?" Grayson inquired with his hand on his head, though honestly, what would that do to make the pain go away?

Rose fell to her knees. Her face became a sickly green as she vomited blood again. "I don't feel so good."

I looked back behind us towards the house. "Are you sure that you don't want to rest?"

Armen picked her up bridal style. "I will carry her."

Her eyes closed, and her face stayed pale. Drake leaned over Grayson's shoulder to look at the map. "The blood on the map is gone!"

Grayson stared at the drawing in disbelief. "You're right." He mouthed something in awe.

Armen held Rose to his chest. "Okay, lead the way."

"Will do." Grayson led us to an iron gate.

"Who's opening the gate?" Drake rapped on the bars. After all this time, they still stayed sturdy. They could keep almost anything out. The only way through was with the key.

"I can." Grayson turned to Armen who was muttering soothing words to his girlfriend. "Armen, give me your sword or dagger or whatever that thing is."

Armen passed Grayson the dagger. He took it to the lock.

"How's Rose?" Drake asked apprehensively.

Armen ran a hand down her cheek. "She's not doing too well."

I could tell that he was concerned about her well-being, even after everything that's happened. "Once we get inside," I said to appease his mind, "she can rest."

We went through the gate. Armen pointed at a set of iron doors. "Hey, what's over there?"

"More ruins?" I guessed.

"How about we check it out?" Drake recommended.

"Might as well." Grayson held his sword.

We went through the doors. The moment we did, our heads hurt. Blood was everywhere, stinking up the night. Armen dropped Rose; he was so weak.

Drake winced. "These headaches are getting worse."

"There has to be a way to stop them," I moaned.

Leaves rustled, and wind gusted. When we reopened our eyes, Herobrine was standing in front of us. He had no facial expression, just plain stoniness.

"What are YOU doing here?" Armen growled accusingly.

Herobrine stated stiffly, "To stop you from getting any further." Rose looked at Him weakly at the sound of his voice. "What I don't understand is why humans continue to persist even though they have plenty of reasons to stop. Give up!"

"We won't stop until you are dead!" Armen ran towards Him, but Herobrine waved His hand and kept Armen where he stood.

"Who says that I am killable, kid?" Herobrine chuckled coldly.

"You're killing Rose with your headaches!" Armen blamed. He was livid at Herobrine's presence. Rose's condition did nothing to solve the matter.

"No, she's not dying," Herobrine said quietly. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be assuring or not.

"How do you know?" Armen asked just as inaudibly.

"I'm the one in control, aren't I?" Herobrine made a motion to flick His fingers, but Rose started to stand up slowly.

The brunette hugged the wall. "Hero, you need to stop this."

"Why should I?" Herobrine countered. "You're alive. They're alive. I'm not causing any permanent damage."

"Do you want the past to repeat again?" She stared into His soulless eyes. Herobrine stayed silent. She held out a hand. "If you don't want that to happen again, then you'd join us." She smiled softly.

His "breathing" (could it be called that?) paused. Finally, the demon said in a stony voice, "Sorry sweetheart, but that goes against my programming." Then He teleported away.

When we were all recovered, Rose panted, "Programming? What does He mean by that?"

"I have no idea." I was just as confused as everyone else.

Rose sighed. "Come on, let's go into the forge."

"Yeah." And we walked to the entrance.


	10. Chapter ten

**Lya's POV**

Grayson fingered the lock of the forge gingerly and pressed his lips together. The blond jabbed his index finger into the keyhole and wiggled it. Then he pulled it free. After a moment of thinking, Grayson said, "Alright, Armen, it looks like we will need your dagger again."

Armen glanced at the little knife. The blade glinted from the torchlight, almost eerie to look at. His reflection was distorted on the silvery surface. Then he held it out, pommel out. "Right."

Grayson took the small weapon/key. Then he jammed the blade into the lock. After turning it a few times, the lock fell away with a click. "And now a regular keyhole."

Rose removed from her pockets a dainty key and relinquished it to Grayson. "Here."

Grayson accepted it with a grim smile and turned it inside the e door opened, revealing an archway. Grayson stepped forward and was instantly enveloped in a shimmering blue light. When it disappeared, it left Grayson standing up straighter and looking healthier (although a bit paler looking from the light). "Woah, that felt weird."

The rest of us walked through. A pleasant coolness ran through my body, and I felt a sense of happiness that I have not felt since...

"My head doesn't hurt anymore," Armen commented delightfully.

"Same," Drake agreed.

"I...actually feel a lot better." I brushed my fingers against my forehead, conscious of the fact that my head did not feel like it was on fire anymore. My chest did not hurt whilst breathing. Even the pain from the little cuts and scabs of previous adventures seemed to diminish.

"Now that you mention it, so do I." Rose stretched out, looking relaxed. We all were.

Then Grayson frowned in confusion. "What is happening?" At our strange looks, he continued, "As welcome as this is, I want to know why our headaches stopped."

Rose stood on a pressure plate, and the barrier lit up again. "Woah," I whispered. The answer was plain to us now. Whatever this magic was, it brought us a long-sought-after peace.

Rose then went to another door. This, too, was locked. She called out to Grayson, "Can I use the dagger for a sec?"

Surprised, he glanced down at the little thing. "Um, yeah, sure." He passed it to her. Rose, with a nod of thanks, went to the door. She unlocked it, and that gateway fell away, revealing a storage area of some sorts.

"Maybe they put all of the sword ingredients in here," Rose stated, eyeing the chests with hopeful scrutiny.

"Hah," I laughed in pleasure. "Convenient!"

We spent a few minutes poring over the various different things. Molds, strange, nameless metals, bottles of odd liquids, and other things. There was also what appeared to be an instruction manual.

Rose broke the awkward silence with a, "So, who's making the sword?"

Armen was quick to refuse. "I'm not doing it!"

"I'm not doing it either!" Drake backed away from the materials now lying out on the floor.

I looked at Grayson apprehensively! "Not it!"

Grayson glanced at Rose expectantly. "I guess I'm doing it, then."

Something about his acceptance stopped the words from coming out of Rose's mouth. The lips still hanging open, she suggested, "If you want, we can play rock, paper, scissors for it?"

Grayson shook his head, not submissively. "No, it's fine." Then he mumbled to himself, but I could still hear, "It feels right."

Rose shrugged, relieved. "Okay."

Grayson flexed his hands. "Well, I guess I should start making it, then."

Drake nodded. "Yeah, you should."

Grayson started glancing through the instructions, allowing every piece of information to sink in. I had no doubts that he could figure it out. He seemed like the kind of person who would be interested in how things worked.

Then he put down the book. He gathered up the materials in his arms and sauntered over to the furnaces. Grayson took the solid gold and put it inside the furnace with a set of tongs. The heat of the place started to make him sweat, but Grayson just wiped his brow and continued working. Occasionally, he would use tools to prod at the slowly melting metal. There was a wild fascination in his bright green eyes, a boyish delight.

It was kinda cute to watch.

"Do you guys think that this place is a safe haven?" Rose wondered aloud.

I was wrenched from my private thoughts so suddenly that I had to take a second before responding. "It very well could be." I looked around the Imperial Forge. Yeah, there was lava everywhere, but there was a calm air about the place. Definitely much more comforting than the threat posed by Him.

Armen was leaping over the puddles of lava with the dexterity of a cat. His boyish features under his helmet were lit up triumphantly. It was as though he thought that nothing could hurt him. I had a bad feeling about this.

Drake, like how a protective older brother would, admonished Armen, "Dude, be careful, please."

Grayson glanced up from the furnaces, raising his eyebrows in concern. "Yeah, please, dude. What good is making this weapon if you are not around to use it?"

Rose gave her boyfriend a look of disapproval. Armen stopped his parkour and shrugged. However, before he could retort, there was a crack of thunder outside. The floor quaked. I clutched tightly at the wall. Turning my head slowly, I peered up the stairs at the night sky. It flashed with blanched color. Lightning.

"This isn't good," Rose murmured, her skin losing color.

Grayson grimaced and removed something from the furnace with heat protection mitts. "On the bright side, I made some kind of mold, probably for the first piece."

The thunder and lightning continued their song rapidly. I subconsciously started to tune it out, against my better judgement.

Drake whispered, "He's trying to get in, but he can't."

I started to grin at that before Rose countered with a deep frown, "I wouldn't be so sure, Hero usually finds a way to get into things like this."

Grayson tensed in front of the furnace. His forehead creased from stress. "I'll try and hurry up."

I wanted to advise him that rushing the weaponry would probably mess up the forging process, but Rose, eyes still on Armen, then asked, "What pieces do you have so far?"

Grayson removed a golden colored object from the mold he created not a few minutes ago. It tumbled to the ground. He reflexively tried to catch it, but instead of burning his fingers, the blade was cool to Grayson's touch apparently; he did not flinch from the heat of it.

He held it up. "I just finished the first piece."

Rose stopped giving Armen that look and clapped her hands together in elation. "All you have to do now is put it together!"

Grayson stared at blade. Dull. Goldish. Covered in gunk. He bathed it in a bucket of water. Steam mixed with the ashen smoke in the air, and I took to breathing through my shirt. My eyes stung. Nevertheless, I watched as he, cradling the pieces of the sword like he would a baby, carried the unforged weapon to the anvil. From there he created a handle of ailanthus wood, a tree associated with the heavens, despite its foul smell.

Grayson blinked his eyes shut, envisioning what he wanted the blade to be. When his eyes opened, I thought that I saw a glint of gold in his emerald irises. Whatever it was that I saw must have been imagined, because once I got a proper look, Grayson's eyes had returned to green. He was carrying a heavy duty hammer. He brought it down, and there was a clash of metal on metal. Clang.

Grayson hesitated, breathing heavily. Then he beat down again on the rough blade. Clang. Sparks flew in his space and through the air. Clang. The hammer came back up as quickly as it had came down. Clang. Clang. Grayson was more into it now. Clang. He seemed powerful, what with his forehead drenched in sweat and his mouth set in a serious line.

Clang. Then he stopped and held up the blade. He inserted the tang into the hammer, and there was a soft glow as the two pieces united. A pommel and a guard of amber-colored gold materialized on the weapon. The blade glinted amethyst from an unknown magic. The sword was beautiful. That was the only word for it.

I gazed at it mystified. Its perfectness was beyond compare. Grayson held it up to the light. "Guys..."

Armen's mouth contracted into a little 'o' shape. "Wow."

In equal stunned disbelief, Drake murmured, "Is that it?"

To my surprise, Grayson shook his head. "Not quite. It still needs to be enchanted with witch's blood." He then picked up a dainty bottle of crystal filled with a scarlet liquid. Personally, I believed the weapon to be dangerous already, but I wasn't the one who studied the manual. Grayson was. By default, he was the expert. No exceptions.

The gold was drenched in the blood. Then the substance stained the gemstones and infused itself into the blade. The amethyst turned from it's light purple into a scarlet purple, almost like blood itself. The gold gleamed majestically, as if meant for a powerful ruler, a rightful king.

Grayson glanced at it, then turned the blade around in his hand. "Armen, take it." He offered it pommel first to the young brunette. Armen stared at it reluctantly. "Take it!"

Armen accepted the weapon. His gloved fingers encircled the handle tightly. Then Armen grinned in renewed determination. "Wow, this feels so weird. Strange feeling everywhere!"

That was not been the reaction that I would have had. Then again, he seemed to be the carefree type. Even though I merely knew him for a couple of days at most, it felt like forever. In fact, it seemed that way towards all of them. Happy Armen. Quiet Drake. Protective Rose. Adorable Grayson...

Then the ground rocked from explosions outside. Lightning, no doubt, but it felt so unnatural. It perturbed us all. We stumbled where we stood. The feeling of comfort was gone.

Wincing, I said, "I don't think He's very happy."

Rose facepalmed, her face contorting in pain and annoyance. "You think?"

Drake rocked unsteadily. "We should get out of here."

We all turned to face the barrier that glistened innocently, however also in mockery. I had barely made the first step towards the exit when my head exploded with pain. I cried out in agony. My temple felt like it was on fire. So used to the peace I had become that once the pain returned, I was ill prepared.

Drake was caressing his own brow, his eyes watering from pain. "You've GOT to be kidding me."

"Why?" Armen griped loudly. My ears rung, not appreciating the sound of human voices.

"Bbblllaaarrrggghhh!" Rose retched. Blood splattered the stones, swirling between the crevices in the bricks like rivers of red.

Then there was a worse sound, the sound of something being singed. I turned towards one of the ledges. Grayson stood there alone, pale, with his arm outstretched. His hand was open wide. His face was scrunched up. I glanced at Grayson's fingers. They were twitching something, but they wouldn't move. Then suddenly they clasped together into a desperate fist. Grayson wobbled.

Grayson peered over the bars, horror registering on his face. Then, in a quiet and somber voice, he announced, "I dropped the book."

Rose glared at him as though it was all his fault and smacked her forehead. "Great. Just great."

Grayson flinched away guiltily. "I didn't do it on purpose. It was like..." The answer dawned on him. "My hand. It was possessed."

Rose stopped scrutinizing him and scratched her nose. "Hero must have possessed you without you knowing, then."

Drake glanced around, probably fearing that he would see Him somewhere about. "We should seriously get out of here, because the door seal isn't protecting us anymore."

Without hesitation, Armen stated, "I agree." It came out almost like a squeak, but he was still putting on a brave act.

I stared off towards the pit that devoured the book. "Yeah. Where to?"

Thoughtfully, Rose replied, "We should go through the other gate."

Somberly, we left the Iron Forge. It felt nice going through the barrier again, but the sensation barely lasted before the aches returned. A feeling of dread hung in the air, threatening to choke us all. I gnawed on the inside of my lip until I tasted blood. Great, one more pain to bug the living daylights out of me.

I squeezed the handle of my sword, admiring once again the fit of the handle in my handle. It was almost like it was made for me. Thinking about the saphire sword sort of relaxed me, but a lump still rose in my throat. I tried my best to ignore it.

We continued to stay in silence, just letting the sinister feeling pull us further down the path. Closer to our destinies. Closer to Him. Closer to death.

There was a hole in the road.

"What's down there?" Armen asked curiously, squinting in the darkness and into the hollow.

"It's a sewer." Rose wrinkled her nose slightly, but I didn't think that it was because of the smell.

Drake tapped his foot. "Should we go down there?"

After a moment's hesitation, Grayson was the one who answered. "I don't see why not." But that was a lie. I could see it in his eyes. There were about one hundred reasons why we shouldn't poke our noses into something that wasn't our business. However, the logical thing to do wasn't always the right thing to do. I bit my tongue.

One by one, we jumped into the hole and landed into the water. It quickly grew from warm into cold when Armen's armor made first contact and turned parts of it into ice. I shivered and clambered aboard the slippery mass. However, my leather armor was already sodden, and chances were that it would have to get even more wet.

Drake swam over to a door. "Hey guys, look in here."

I strained my neck so that I didn't have to get back into the water. The sight I was met with was revolting. "Ah, great. Blood."

"The blood makes it smell in here," Armen complained, attempting to pinch his nose by shoving his hand underneath his helmet.

"I agree with you on that one." Drake gagged a little.

Drake and the others backed away from the cultist's ledge, wanting nothing to do with any of it. Suddenly, the water seemed rather pleasing.

Grayson swam towards an iron grate. "All in favor in keep going?" he muttered, swimming underneath. Moments later, his blond head poked back out from under the water.

Rose followed suite, her light brown hair fanning out in the water. "Hero's base is near."

"Oh. Great." I plugged my nose and swam under, coming up for air as soon as I could. I could hear some splashing behind me and assumed that Drake and Armen were following (though how Armen managed to get through whilst wearing his amazing armor I never knew).

It was a whole lot hotter on the other side. In fact, I started sweating. Beads of it pricked at my forehead, and it was the same for the rest of my comrades. That's how I knew we were close.

To the mouth of hell it is.

We went to the end of the hall where there was a light. Bubbling lava spewed here and there and everywhere. Again. What was it with Ironmyre and lava? It should have been called Lavamyre at this rate, because there wasn't that much iron around.

"We're here," Rose said, sounding like a small child.

"There is a lot of lava here," Armen commented sullenly, gripping the Fiery Sword.

However, Grayson's attention was not on the magma threatening to burn us all alive. "Are those, diamonds?"

Armen nodded excitedly, fear peaking. "The-"

Thankfully, Drake cut him off with a hiss. "Don't. Say. The. Full. Name."

Rose started jumping on top of the ashen pillars, almost with avid fascination. I tried my hardest to forget that there was lava all around me.

"Are you sure this is safe?" I wondered aloud, but of course I did it anyway.

"Probably isn't," Grayson answered with a dry smile, following my lead.

We carefully parkoured until we were safely down. Armen and Drake, who were still bantering up top, noticed that we were now on the ground. They shared a flustered look.

"Hey, wait up!" Armen called, probably growing pink, though arguably that was from the heat. He started leaping down, however being much too quick about it.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Grayson snorted for whatever reason. I gave him a look as Drake, too, jumped from pillar to pillar. Eventually, we were all reunited on the surface.

"There are skulls everywhere." Just as Grayson said that, arrows started firing from all directions. One moment, all was calmish, the next, there were arrows embedded in the ground inches from my feet. I stumbled backwards as another wave threatened to lop my head off.

"Where are they coming from?" I wondered. Then I saw him, leering as he always did, holding the bow menacingly.

"Everyone get behind me now!" Rose ordered regally. She created a light shield in front of her. We could see through it, though it wasn't like looking through a window. It was...something else.

I grumbled, "Why won't He leave us alone?" even though that was an incredibly stupid question. This was Herobrine, the same man who united warring tribes and used his new army in his conquest of Minecraftia, the same man who was responsible for all this bloodshed, the same man who...

I stopped myself. I can't afford any weakness, not now that I have friends that I had to help look after.

In desperation, Rose called out, "Hero, you need to stop or else."

Herobrine said nothing.

To no one in particular, Grayson muttered, "See if you can get to the diamonds." He pointed a wavering finger towards the three orbs. They sparkled in the surrounding light emitted by the lava.

Rose nodded with renewed determination. "I will try best to block His attacks." The shield rippled.

Armen clapped his hands together. "Okay, let's get those diamonds." He broke off in a sprint, weaving in and out of the arrows' paths with dexterity. Herobrine was solely focusing on Rose, the one he perceived to be the biggest threat.

The rest of us made it to the platform. I stood with my back to the gems, feeling a slight tingling pulse coming from them. I looked down hopelessly at Rose, who was now flying around magically dueling with Herobrine. "What do we do? We can't hit Him except with Armen's sword!"

The boy looked down unsurely at the enchanted blade. The power he wielded was inconceivable. Clearly, Armen was reluctant in possessing such might. His eyes glittered with unshed tears. The pressure was getting to him.

I turned away, unsure of how I could possibly help. I was in time to see Rose laying a hit on the immortal fiend. He stumbled in the air, a clear wince on His face. And pure rage.

"He's weakened! How much more of your power can you use on Him?" I asked her, voice faltering at how pale she looked in the firelight and at the shadows under her eyes.

"Not much," she answered gravely in a falter. "After a period of time of using my powers, they weaken." Rose shot another beam of intense light towards the demon, forcing Him back towards us and the Fiery Sword. Armen braced himself, but still looked uncertain.

Herobrine roared with pain, but there was little He could do. At least until Rose collapsed just in front of the ledge clutching her head, clearly in agony.

Armen started breathing heavily. His body tensed in anger, and his mouth curled in a snarl. He growled in a low, threatening tone, "I've had enough of this." He ripped off his helmet and flung it at Grayson, who managed to catch it. Armen flashed us all an almost apologetic look. Then, in a wave of fury, Armen ran forward, swinging his sword at Him.

The blade made contact with Herobrine.

Herobrine froze.

Both of them toppled into the lava.

Drake let out a grief-stricken cry and staggered towards the ledge. Rose woke from her trance at this and put two and two together. "ARMEN!" She, too, ran for the ledge, but it was too late. Armen was gone.

Gone.

"No!" Grayson stared forward in disbelief, all sorts of emotions flashing in his eyes. Only I stayed put. I didn't know Armen that well.

That didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

Drake broke down in sobs, shivering uncontrollably. I found myself putting a hand on his filthy shoulder. "Drake they're both gone."

He sniffled. Rose cried even more. "They can't be gone, THEY JUST CAN'T!" She refused to let any of us touch her. Her hand reached up around her neck, and briefly I wondered if she was going to strangle herself. Then Rose unclasped the necklace and tossed it at my feet. I picked it up.

Drake stared at her in horror. "I'm sorry, but they are." There was a silent plea in his discolored eyes.

Grayson wobbled, slowly sheathing his blade behind his back, looking so hurt, so broken. "Why did he do that?" he whispered, haunted.

"I don't know." Drake stared down into the fiery mouth. "Let's get out of here."

Then Rose stumbled towards the ledge. Ignoring our protests, she fell forward, arms flailing wildly. I made my own frantic dash forward, watching as her body disappeared into the fiery depths.

She, too, was gone.

My insides hollowed. No no no no no no no. "Rose!" I yelled, as if the power of my own voice could save here. My fingers tightened around the amulet.

"What the hell?" Drake wavered, looking like he was going to be sick. Was he too going to topple off of the edge? Or Grayson? I don't know what I'd do if he...

I shook my head, refusing to entertain the thought. I can't lose him.

"She did not just do that..." Grayson whispered feebly. "Did she?"

I nodded numbly. Gone.

"I guess she would rather be with lover than with friends," Drake spat, his exterior starting to harden. However, there was no point in that. Grayson and I both knew that their joint suicides shook him more than it did with us.

"It's a tragic love story. Let's..." Grayson broke off and reached for his nose. "Let's get away from the ledge and try to find a way out."

Drake squeezed his eyes shut. "Yeah, good idea." Grayson and I had to work together to drag him away. He stared absentmindedly.

"Do we take the diamonds with us?" I asked. A part of me screamed YES!

"Well, He's gone, so they're useless now." Drake placed a hand on them doubtfully. "Useless..."

Gone.

Grayson was fighting to keep it together, and he was doing a hell of a better job than any of us. He leapt down, careful to miss the lava. "Over here, I think there's a way out."

We followed him solemnly. Gone. Gone. Gone. They're both gone.

"Hey look!" Drake pointed upward, his eyes dull. "That's the same light from the forge."

It was the barrier. It shimmered remarkably. Was it just hours ago that five friends were laughing together and berating Armen for jumping around lava?

Jumping around lava.

I reached forward, my fingertips brushing across the coolness. They stopped aching. "But why, though?" It's amazing that they put up with all of my questions. "Did we trigger anything going through?"

"I don't think so." I ended up agreeing with Drake.

We swam up a waterfall. Sunlight shone, oblivious to the tragedy that befell us. I shielded my eyes.

"If Armen was here, he'd just walk up the water," Drake said with a hollow voice. He didn't even pay attention to us or our surroundings. I felt bad for the guy, I did, but I couldn't find the words to comfort him.

"It's beautiful out," Grayson commented fondly.

"Yep, never going to get used to sunlight." No one laughed at my joke. I didn't either.

"You will someday." Grayson took my hand. "Trust me."

"Rose was right." We looked at Drake, who was wearing a small smile. "You are good for each other."

I let go of him, blushing.

Grayson, too turning pink, backed away from me. "Shut up, we're just friends." He hastily changed the subject. "Let's set up camp."

Quick, think of something to do. I found myself putting the necklace around my neck. "Hey, you don't mind if I keep this, do you?"

Grayson was busy searching for a spot. Drake, however, answered in his hollow sort of way, "I don't mind."

"Is this a good spot?" Grayson then asked, pointing at the edge of the woods.

Before, I would have said no (what if there were wolves?). However, after seeing almost every horror of the world, I think that I could take on a wolf any day.

"Yeah."

Then, sorrowfully, we walked to the edge of the woods.

* * *

 **Armen's pov**

I was floating in the lava on top of Herobrine with the sword in His chest.

"That was not very nice, you know, but I understand why you did it," He said, with smile.

"Of course you do, you sick son of a bitch, but I don't regret it. My friends deserve to live more than you do," I said, with anger.

"Oh, so you don't know," He said.

"Don't know what?" I said confused.

"She didn't tell you? Rose kissed me," He said, with a smirk on His smug face.

"What?" I said, trying to stay calm.

"Oh yes, she did. I didn't even have to ask her. She just came up to me and kissed me," He said smirking.

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask HER?" He said.

"What?" I said, starting to get confused again.

"It was back that the library. You and your 'friends' we're off looking at this dumb book or something like that, and she...just went up the stairs." He said.

"So before she came downstairs and you disappeared, she kissed you," I said, trying to collect all the information.

"Yes, that is correct. And, oh, how I enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, I think that Rose felt the same way," He said smirking.

"Will you shut up," I said pissed off, my hands turned into fists, He laughs.

"Why? Do you think that you can hurt me? Don't you remember? I have far more experience that you do? You can't hurt me," He said.

"Do you ever shut up, by the way she was my lover first," I said.

"That may be true, but it's the first to fall. In the end, you can't keep her," He said smirking.

"And you won't either," I said.

"Perhaps. Which means she'll have to make a choice. I'll just see to it that there are no other options," He said.

"In the end she will choose me, so don't waste your breathe," I said.

"She can't choose you if you're already dead. Face it, kid. The only reason why you're breathing right now is because of me. You should be thanking me," He said.

"The fiery sword was suppose to kill you," I said, looking at sword in His chest to see nothing was happening.

"Well, it didn't work on me, boy," He said smirking, pulling the sword out of His chest and throw it away.

"But how?" I asked really confused.

"Some secrets...are just best kept secret. Later," He said, disappearing then, I see Rose falling in the lava.

"Rose, what did you do to her?" I asked yelling that Herobrine.

"What, don't think that I can't control more than one body at once? Please. Boy, you have a lot to learn," He said.

I swim to Rose, as she falls in my arms bride style.

"Are you going to let her die in lava?!" I yell at Him.

"Nah, of course not. Do you think that I would do that to her? To you, maybe, but still," He said, as I give Him a death stare.

"What's the matter? Demon got your tongue?" He asked grinning.

"By the way, what did you mean by your programming?" I asked Him.

"Aw, you think that I am going to tell you?" He said, as I felt movement in my arms and I looked down to see Rose waking up.

"Armen. Hero," she said looking at me then, Herobrine.

"Your awake," I said giving her a soft smile.

"See, she's fine," He said.

"I thought you guys were dead?" She said.

"Eh. I live. I die. I am reborn again," He said.

"I'm glad your okay Armen," Rose said, as she gave me a kiss on the lips and hugged me at the time.

"Yeah yeah, he's fine for now," He said calmly.

"What do you mean by for now?" Rose asked Him, with confusion.

"Sweetheart, the only thing keeping your 'boyfriend' alive is me. If I lose my strength, or I get bored with him, I'll have to let him go," He said, calmly with a smile.

"What?" Rose starts to cry.

"No, my dream/nightmare came true," she said, crying in her hands.

"Well, that's life," He said.

"It's all your fault Armen is like this. I hate you Hero, I hate you!" Rose said yelling at Him, as she starts to cry harder.

I just stay quiet and hug Rose tightly.

"Ah, suck it up. You know you love me," He said.

"Armen is my last family member and you kill him!" Rose yells back.

"But you forgot your own brother? Collin," He said.

"You took control of him and his will away from him, also you took his humanity away, so in their words you killed him from the inside out," Rose said.

"But I didn't destroy him completely," He said smiling.

"WHAT!?" Rose and me shouted at the same time shocked.

"I shouldn't say. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise," He said still smiling.

"Rose, who do you love Herobrine or me?" I asked her.

"You know what, for once I agree with the kid. Who do you love?" He asked also.

"What will happen if I choose both of you or one of you?" Rose asked.

"You can't!" He yelled.

"I...choose...Armen..." Rose said slowly.

"Fine. So be it." He said coldly.

"Armen didn't kill my family like you did," Rose said, as He says nothing.

"Why did you kill our parents? They did nothing to you," Rose asked.

"They got in the way of my plan for you both," He said.

"Cold hearted bastard, who doesn't care about anyone but yourself," I said angrily.

"Perhaps," He said smiling evilly, as Rose let's go of me.

"I change my mind on who I love," Rose said.

"What?" I said confused.

"Oh, really," He said smugly.

"During the ceremony with both of you, when mother, father and you Hero, did the chant, it bonded us together, so I can't pick just one of you, your both my lovers so I have to choose you both," Rose said.

"WHAT?!" Both me and Herobrine yelled.

"Mother told me about the chant and what it did, so I love you both the same," She said, a with soft smile.

"Oh, great," He said sarcastically, Rose hits Him with a light arrow to the head and He growls at her.

"Well, you deserved it," I said laughing.

"Oh. Just you wait," He said.

"Wait for what, old man," I said, still laughing and Rose gives me a high five and laughs as well, as He mutters something.

"I heard that," Rose said.

"She also defeated you in front of us," I said smirking, as He stays silent.

"Did a demon catch your tongue." I said still smirking.

"Hero's speechless," Rose said laughing, He stays silent.

"Hero, they're just playing with you," Rose said, going to Him and kisses Him on the lips.

"Better?" She asked, separating from the kiss.

"Maybe," He said.

Rose gives Him a soft smile then, kisses Him again and He kisses her back.


End file.
